September 2009

Introduction
India, traditionally known to Kazakhstan as Hindustan, had close and strong economic and trade links with Kazakhstan. After India got independence Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, considered Kazakhstan (then part of the Soviet Union) to be of great significance for India. He welcomed the former Soviet Central Asian delegation at the first Asian Relations Conference held in New Delhi in 1947 and also visited Kazakhstan during his trip to the Soviet Union in (…)

The 13th round of border talks between India and China were held in New Delhi recently. Though there have been some positive results, like both the sides agreed to set up a hotline between the Prime Ministers and observe peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control, nothing substantial could be achieved on the border issue.
Though the issue has a long history, if we look at the post-independence phase the McMahon Line is not accepted by the Chinese as the legal boundary (…)

No sooner had China and India concluded their 13th round of border talks by Special Representatives (SRs), came a suggestion from a Chinese strategist for balkanisation of India into several parts for decimating any possible challenge to Chinese supremacy (or hegemony) in the Asia-Pacific region. While offficials from both the countries dismissed the hypothesis, such reports are on the rise and emanate from both sides of the border. Only a few days back, the Chinese state-supported Global (…)

Under the compulsions of electoral calculations former BJP leader Kalyan Singh joining hands with Mulayam Singh in Uttar Pradesh has helped to revive the issue of demo-lition of the Babri Masjid. Unfortunately the focus of the current debate is only on fixing res-ponsibility for what happened on December 6, 1992, ignoring the political, administrative and judicial responsibility for the developments which had their origin on December 22-23, 1949 when the idols were surreptitiously installed (…)

Book Review
Rajni Palme Dutt—A Biography by Dr Panchanan Saha; Publishers: Biswabiksha, Kolkata; pages: 232; price: Rs 150.
Dr Panchanan Saha is a renowned scholar who has written books on various topics including biographies, labour movements, communism etc.
In all there were fourteen publications to his credit till 2004. His book, Rajni Palme Dutt—A Biography, was published in 2004 itself. Rajani Palme Dutt (RPD) became Dr Saha’s guide and philosopher and helped a lot in his (…)

The multitude being led to its deliverance by a brilliant individual tends to live on as evocative memory. But if The Hindu’s otherwise empathetic editorial, written on Jinnah’s death in 1948, can be remotely taken as read, Jinnah’s metamor-phosis from a closet parliamentarian to a mass leader had a disturbing aspect. Apart from allaying his own fears of being outmanoeuvred by majoritarian politicians, he had also seized the moment of a divide-and-rule colonial policy to set up a communal (…)

Follies never cease. With great brouhaha, the BJP has given new life to its public enemy, Jinnah. In a double whammy, the BJP’s fanatic wing has given a marketing boost to the Jinnah book by banning it in Gujarat. Now it will sell like hot Satanic Verses.
All monolithic organisations feed on their collective myths. For the BJP-RSS ideology, survival depends on establishing Jinnah and Pakistan as evils. To allow any dilution of this doctrine will be like the Vatican allowing Catholics (…)

What crime did we not commit! Our cruelty was no less than that of the imperialists and fascists! We can never be forgiven for this. Nor should we forgive and excuse ourselves. That we believed this to be the need of the cause is no justification. Mohit Sen, An Autobiography
On the twentieth of August, 1940, Bolshevik leader, Leon Davidovicn Trotsky, illegally exiled from the USSR, and living in Mexico City, the capital of the Central American Republic of Mexico, was hit on the head with (…)

Today all countries of the world are in the race to enhance their socio-economic develop-ment. They are using different methods and policies to achieve socio-economic development. Of these methods and policies, the policy of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is a new one and is adopted by many countries like Brazil, China, Pakistan, India, Iran, Jordan, Poland, Russia etc. to enhance their socio-economic development.
A Special Economic Zone is a geographical region which has economic (…)