2010

by Sarah Kazmi
Like so many other writers and commentators I am also going to start my take on the verdict with the confession that I haven’t read the 8000-page judgment. With that out of the way let’s move on to clearing the air regarding what exactly this judgment was about. It was aimed at the resolution of the 60-year-old Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi ownership dispute. It’s about the land on which the old Babri Masjid, which was demolished in 1992, stood and is believed to be the (…)

Dear President Obama,
Subject: Implementation of Concurrent Resolution of US Senate on Untouchability in India
We have learnt from media reports that accompanied by the US’ First Lady, Michelle Obama, you are scheduled to pay a state visit to India in forthcoming November. I, on my own behalf as well as on behalf of over three hundred million people belonging to the Scheduled Caste (also called Dalits) and Scheduled Tribe communities, who are the underprivileged and discriminated (…)

Karnataka politics has been in the national limelight for a slew of reasons. The fact that the first BJP Government south of the Vindhyas has completed an eventful and tumultuous two years in office has by itself attracted the spotlight of attention. The periodic volcanoes that erupted in the political world created a heat that generated tremendous curiosity and excitement about the future of the State Government in particular and the direction of politics in Karnataka in general. The scams (…)

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s aphorism fits the Foreign Contribution Regulation Bill, whose many incarnations, including the latest last month, continue to haunt civil society and non-governmental organisations, including major initiatives not only of the Christian churches, but also of such biggies as Ma Amritanandamayi and Satya Sai Baba, both god-persons noted for their development work at the grassroots in South India as well.
Not (…)

This article is for requesting the readers of Mainstream, particularly those of the Left and Communists, to send their comments on my suggestion that history has created a new stage of ‘inclusive growth’ before socialism. I am of the opinion that China and Vietnam are also going through ‘inclusive growth’ and not socialism because they are allowing capitalists, including foreign capital, to help in their growth. Simul-taneously they are fighting poverty in their countries in a big way. They (…)

by Debraj Bhattacharya
Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri, in his reply to Sumanta Banerjee’s Open Letter to the intellectuals of West Bengal (Mainstream, September 4, 2007), has tried to convince us that the only way in which the movement for democracy can be strengthened is by supporting the TMC in its quest for power in the next Vidhan Sabha elections. Rai Chaudhuri, a radical Leftist, is of the opinion that firstly CPI-M must be overthrown by supporting the TMC and then “people will learn that (…)

I am touched by Sumanta Banerjee’s ‘Open Letter’ (Mainstream, September 11, 2010) where he described me as an intellectual by putting my name along with that of Mahashweta Devi. There is a boy in every old man. And that boy in me felt highly elated by this description. But the old man in me was not amused because that appellation was not quite correct. In Bengali an intellectual is called buddhijivi (one who lives by his intellect). But I do not live by my intellect. I live on pension. Hence (…)

On September 10 the Supreme Court strongly criticised the government for denying benefits to construction workers for which legislation was enacted as much as 14 years ago. The reality is that as a result of such delayed action on the part of the government, billions of rupees which should have been spent on the construction workers’ welfare and social security have been snatched from them.
We see them standing precariously at a height of over one hundred feet or perhaps two hundred feet, (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Identity Politics in Jammu and Kashmir by Rekha Chowdhary (ed.); Vitasta Publishing, New Delhi; 2010; pp. 470; Rs 895.
“We have decided to work with and die for India…. We made our decision not in October last, but in 1944, when we resisted the advances of Mr Jinnah. Our refusal was categorical. Ever since the National Conference has attempted to keep the State clear of the pernicious two-nation theory while fighting the world’s worst autocracy.”
—Sheikh Abdullah at a (…)

To an average high school science candidate in India, the mathematical intricacies of Calculus can appear to be intractable, at least in the preliminary approach. He or she would waste no time indeed to curse both Newton and Leibnitz to eternal perdition for innovation of the subject. Furthermore, it becomes a tormenting exercise to solve problems involving applications of the same.
And Calculus can turn out to be bizarre as one goes up the ladder in his or her educational enterprise. (…)