Cannabis is a part of our great and noble history. We should decriminalise it.
Devangshu Datta
Devangshu Datta is a columnist. His Twitter bio says "Carnivorous, right-winger. Interests = markets, science, history, chess, bridge, sex, religion and anything with high troll-quotient. " That pretty much covers it.
Gandhiji considered drinking immoral, and he believed that it was often the trigger for a host of social evils and crimes such as domestic violence. There's truth to this. But global experience tells us that prohibition doesn't work.
Everybody gambles when they make any investment decision whatsoever. If you stash your money under the pillow, you are betting banks will go bankrupt, and that there will not be a fire or demonetisation. If you put your money in the bank, you're betting that the interest earned will exceed inflation. If you buy land, you're betting real estate values will rise.
More than 95% of traffic deaths have nothing to do with alcohol. The recent Supreme Court decision does not solve the problem, and hurts the innocent.
Indira Gandhi's reign exemplified the dichotomy between populist policies that get politicians elected and policies that actually work. She was the prototype for Narendra Modi.
India lacks the two essential legislative elements that are foundational to creating a secure digital infrastructure. It doesn't have a Privacy Law and a Data Protection law. And it does have a government that argues that privacy is not a fundamental right.