Batting for moral science

While discussing the crucial Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014, during the just-concluded winter session of Parliament, senior Bahujan Samaj Party leader Satish Chandra Mishra argued that moral science, which was part of the school curriculum but had been done away with in several schools, should be brought back. He urged a "social boycott" of adults who "messed (around)" with children and suggested that adults with "polluted minds" be sent to correctional homes. Mishra then cited the example of former army chief General V K Singh, now a minister of state (independent charge) in the Narendra Modi government, as someone who needed to be sent to a "sudhar griha". In November, Singh had triggered a political storm when he tried defending the central government over the murder of two Dalit children in Faridabad, by saying that it could not be blamed if somebody threw stones at a dog. Mishra's suggestions were followed by an uproar from the treasury benches.