2010

It is understandable that human rights/civil liberties organisations should come out with statements deploring the killing of security forces (for example, the PUDR press statement on the wiping out of 75-odd CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh on April 6) on the purely humanitarian ground that any loss of life is deplorable. But civil society groups or individuals who view the issue from a larger perspective need to take a more rigorous and clear-cut stand. If they agree that the fundamental (…)

The year 2009 marked the fiftieth year of the publication of Lokayata, a seminal work on Indian materialist philosophy from the Marxist point of view. Its author, distinguished philosopher-scholar Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (1918-1993), was a life member of the CPI and closely associated with P.C. Joshi (1907-1980), the builder of the Communist Party in this country and its first General Secretary from 1943 to 1947. Joshi was keenly interested in Chattopadhyaya’s works and encouraged him to (…)

While the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions adequately and with the greatest urgency is widely recognised, this extremely important issue has not yet become an issue of mass mobilisation particularly among weaker sections. The reason is obvious—people are too involved in their day-to-day problems. On the other hand, if any world level planning for reducing GHG emissions is linked to meeting the basic needs of all people, then this will be a plan in which all weaker sections (…)

It is a matter of national shame when arguments condoning crimes like “honour killings” come in the form of tradition.
A. Marten says: “If we would know the political and moral condition of a state we must ask what rank women hold in it.” It needs no reiteration that patriarchy runs deep in Indian society and crimes like female infanticide and foeticide still haunt the country. It is therefore not surprising that different societies in India are increasingly facing the problem of (…)

The Tone of the Third Millennium
The reprehensible Al-Qaeda attack on New York (WTC) and Washington (Pentagon) in the USA on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, set the stage for the Third Millennium in its very first year. This audacious attack on the economic and military nerve-centres of the world’s greatest power shook the then US President G.W. Bush and his administration such that nobody paused to think what might be the true cause. As expected, the attacks drew retaliatory action, later (…)

The growth rate of agriculture was three per cent and that of manufacturing was 4.5 per cent during the first three decades after independence. The growth rate for agriculture has slipped to 2.8 per cent while that for manufacturing has increased to 6.4 per cent during the last 15 years. Farmers continue to commit suicides across the country. The groundwater level is declining. The country has to import wheat, edible oils and pulses year after year.
That said we must not ignore the (…)

The Ranganath Mishra Commission Report was tabled in December 2009 in Parliament. Some of its important recommendations are 15 per cent reservation to minorities in education, Central and State Government jobs and social welfare schemes in the OBC quota. Out of 15 per cent reservation for minorities, the Report recommends 10 per cent to Muslims and the remaining five per cent to other minorities. It also recommends the inclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in the list of the (…)

Harmonising the Gandhian Orientation for Constructive Engagement with Self-patronising Bureaucratic Narcissism on the One Hand and Militant Left Radicalism on the Other
On April 12, the Statesman News Service (SNS) flashed the observation of a People’s Tribunal to the effect that the “entire executive and judicial administration appears to be totally apathetic to the plight of the poor, specially the tribals. Violations have now gone to the extent where fully tribal villages have been (…)

The strategic importance of Central Asia, a region rich in oil, gas and other resources while being located in between Russia, China and the Indian subcontinent, is growing with every passing day. And the US is doggedly persisting with its efforts to reinforce its influence in that part of the globe. Washington is eager to control the local energy wealth there and regulate the so-called ‘manageable chaos’ in the area so as to exert pressure on its main rivals—Moscow and Beijing—as well as (…)

The Tone of the Third Millennium
The reprehensible Al-Qaeda attack on New York (WTC) and Washington (Pentagon) in the USA on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, set the stage for the Third Millennium in its very first year. This audacious attack on the economic and military nerve-centres of the world’s greatest power shook the then US President G.W. Bush and his administration such that nobody paused to think what might be the true cause. As expected, the attacks drew retaliatory action, later (…)