Recommended Sunday Reading—March 19

Cheated in India and Nepal, made to work in Qatar

There are an estimated 1.8 million migrant workers already in Qatar, with 600,000 Indians and 500,000 Nepalese making up the largest number, followed by those from other south Asian countries. The gas-rich nation is spending about £400m a week on infrastructure projects, directly or indirectly related to football’s most prestigious tournament, and the demand for labour is expected to increase over the coming year as work intensifies. In The Guardian.

A tribute to an unusual poet

Walcott mined History’s nostalgia with panache and passion, and wrung it into Art that exhibited proudly its bruises like the smudges of pain and tearstain on old creased cheeks. In what is perhaps the best-loved part of his Nobel acceptance speech, he said, “Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole. The glue that fits the pieces is the sealing of its original shape. It is such a love that reassembles our African and Asiatic fragments, the cracked heirlooms whose restoration shows its white scars”. In Scroll.in.

It’s going to be a long night, says Yogendra Yadav

"The war cannot be won overnight. We need to brace ourselves for a long night. In a sense, the test of our republic and our democratic traditions is now, like the Emergency was the test of our democracy." Yadav says that everything at the national level has to be "re-imagined" for the long battle. "Casteism of regional parties, Congress-style secularism of holding minorities permanent hostage on the question of security and the very language of secularism. Everything should change." In The Telegraph.

Law ministry’s move to launch TV channel

The TRAI recommendation dated 28.12.2012 states: “The Authority recommends that the Central Government Ministries, Central/State government Departments, Central/State Government owned companies, Central/State Government undertakings, joint ventures of the Central/State Governments and the private sector, and Central/State government funded entities should not be allowed to enter into the business of broadcasting and or distribution of TV channels.” In The Hoot.

Senior citizens are paying for company

“Dealing with seniors comes naturally to me. My mother was the eighth of nine children, and we always had older uncles, aunts and cousins in the house,” Gambhir says. “There are some things only seniors can give you. How to stand up for yourself, cope with failure, care for others—college don’t teach you this,” adds the MBA. In nine years volunteering with them, Gambhir has spent time with a number of high-profile clients who have club memberships and beautiful homes, but are lonely and / or infirm.“There are retired army personnel, judges and ministers,” he says. “We debate politics and sport, go to movies and plays, do some gardening, or have a couple of drinks together.” In The Hindustan Times.