2010

Twentysix long years after the gruesome accident of methyl isocyanate (MIC) toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the district court of Bhopal has finally delivered its verdict. Eight persons, including the former Chairman of the plant Keshub Mahindra (who is next to the CEO of the plant, Warren Anderson), were found responsible for negligence that led to the death of countless innocent citizens of Bhopal. But to the dismay and frustration of the world and the families of (…)

From the time I first visited Manipur I have been painfully aware of the divisions within the Manipur society. And I have also been aware how deeply ignorant the rest of us in India are about the history and geography of the area.
The first time I went to Ukhrul was in 1982 as a part of a women’s team to investigate into the human rights violations by the Indian armed forces during a counter-insurgency operation. The team was headed by Pramila Dandavate. In her first speech in Ukhrul (…)

The demand for a Greater Nagaland or Nagalim and the intended visit of the General Secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM), Thuingleng Muivah, to his ancestral village Somdal in the Ukhrul district of Manipur has brought the State of Manipur to the centre stage of political controversy. Isak Swu and Muivah of the Greater Naga movement, and popularly known as the leaders of NSCN-IM, have been demanding a separate homeland for the Naga people scattered across the (…)

What does one attribute individual action to?
The question that underpinned the very foundation of liberal thinking is hitherto key anchorage for the mindset in the capitalist structural arrangement. As we sift through newspapers there appear threads connecting and narrating the tale for a theoretical reflection.
Thank you, said Lebow when she won her Oscar this year for best director. The gratitude was not for the golden figure she clasped. It was a thank you to the her (…)

Letter from Kolkata
Of all the recent elections of West Bengal, perhaps the last one involving a large number of corporations and municipalities has turned out to be the most important. The importance lies in the fact that it has conclusively confirmed the death-knell of Left politics in the State. It has also swept away at a stroke whatever confusion remained in the minds of the Congress policy-makers as to who really is the undisputed leader of the anti-CPM political mainstream in West (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Global Economic Crisis—A People’s Perspective: Fiasco of Neo-liberalism; Alternative Survey Group; Daanish Books, Delhi; 2009; pp. 257; price: Rs 450.
Margaret Mead, a distinguished social scientist, had observed that “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” It is this spirit that has inspired a group of dedicated scholars to bring out uninterruptedly for the last fifteen years an Alternative Economic Survey, (…)

Sonia Gandhi’s advisers should have suggested to her that if she had travelled as far as Jammu she should have travelled still further. Towards Shopian to meet the affected family of the two slain women—Neelofar and Aasiya Jan. After all, last week-end the entire Valley was observing the first death anniversary of these two young women, whose murder still remains wrapped in layers and is one of those blatant cases of a cover-up of sorts. And if anger over these murders couldn’t be contained, (…)

Whoever said that unipolarity assures peace and eternity? The global economy went into a huddle for real estate failure allowing the millions to turn violent on social issues in Western capital. Daniel Harvey, the reputed economist, suggested a revolution in economic policies away from the current unproductive real estate investments. The current policies do not contribute to happiness of the millions. It is only adding to the feel good factor of the middle and upper classes from Beijing and (…)

Introduction
The prostitute has over the ages never been explicitly defined, but commonly any woman, who for the sake of monetary consideration or any other gainful remuneration, sells her body is regarded as such. Throughout the history of human society, the much reviled whore has been deprecated as a sinner, immoral, a repository of diseases, a profaner of religion, whose companionship should be shunned by the civilised, moral, virtuous and married man. Her synonyms are varied: harlot, (…)

There has been large scale ethnic killing of minority Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan’s Osh region, which is on the border of Uzbekistan and home to several minorities. Over a hundred people, mostly belonging to the Uzbek minority, have been killed; thousands, including women, children, foreign students, injured; thousands have had to flee their homes in the face of threats, revealing the barbarity of the attackers. This is a clear attempt at ethnic cleansing. This is not the first time that (…)