2010

This following article was published in The Hindu several days ago. It is being reproduced now for the benefit of our readers as its contents remain broadly valid at this point in time.
The idea of engaging the Taliban, which welled up stealthily to the surface during the London Conference on Afghanistan on January 29, has since become the official American and British policy. It has imparted a competitive edge to the region’s political environment. The resultant tensions complicate the (…)

A vivid example of the symbiosis of terrorists and criminals is the self-proclaimed Kosovo Republic in the Balkans. The Albanian leaders from the former Kosovo Liberation Army (that sought to “libeate” Kosovo from Serbia) were mostly engaged in human and drug trafficking. What is noteworthy is that Sali Berisha, Ramush Haradinal and Hashim Thaci—who have all served as Kosovo’s Prime Ministers—had been allegedly involved in illegal trade in the human organs of kidnapped Serbs. However, the (…)

While several publications in the Capital have highlighted the US dilemma over how much to appease the Pakistani Army as well as those in authority in Islamabad owing allegiance to the Generals, three names have come into prominence in the course of the last few days: Narendra Modi, Girija Prasad (GP) Koirala and Kanu Sanyal.
Narendra Modi, the Gujarat CM, failed to turn up on March 21 before the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigating Team inquiring into the massacre in (…)

Harsh Mander quit the Indian Administrative Service to work as an activist-writer. His latest book, Fear and Forgiveness—The Aftermath of Massacre, published by Penguin in 2009, focuses on the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 and its aftermath. This interview was taken in the backdrop of the aftermath of the 2002
pogrom and what realities stand out today in Gujarat after eight long years.
How can the continuing climate of ‘dread‘ get diminished in the riot affected areas of (…)

COMMUNICATION
Two thousand five hundred crores of rupees splurged on statues of self and elephants! Two hundred crores of rupees for a rally! And a garland worth five crores of rupees! Is this the simple and modest lifestyle of a Dalit Chief Minister (Mayawati), or the vulgar display of power and pelf by a modern-day queen, who could not afford to pay compensation to the victims of a stampede? But then, does she not have company in many of our politicians, who lead a life of opulence, at (…)

That the case for the formation of a Telangana State is strong tends to be widely accepted. Many of the districts which make up Telangana have remained economically backward; undoubtedly their development requires special attention. While this is readily conceded, what worries many observers is the cascading effect that the creation of Telangana would have on similar demands for Statehood elsewhere. A new State can engender new social problems as well with the coming to the fore of “new (…)

The Telangana movement, that is going on for the last few months, is an expression of the people’s democratic yearnings. It is a silent but people’s revolution for a separate Telangana State. The people’s protests are taking place in the forms of dhoom-dhams (songs and dances), garjanas (hullabaloos), and padayatras (marches). Sometimes it is celebrating vijayayatras (victory marches) in anticipation of the Telangana state, and at times it is taking out shava yatras (processions carrying the (…)

The mood in Kashmir, after the Indira-Sheikh Accord of 1975, was upbeat. A surge of emotions over the leader’s homecoming had apparently overshadowed the bitterness of the fifties. The Valley had turned into a nerve-centre of activity and played host to an influx of visitors including leaders, writers, journalists and film-makers. Globetrotting yogis too descended on the scene to unwind, while some like the Mahesh Yogi group held training sessions on transcendental meditation for the (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Whatever may be the substance of the much-advertised point of difference between Peking and Washington over the question of détente, it may be safely assumed that Gerald Ford’s talks with Mao Tse-tung and his cohorts explored the further potentialities of Sino-American collusion, particularly in the countries of the Third World. Angola shows the enormity of this entente while the happenings in Bangladesh underscores this danger in our immediate neighbourhood. (…)

[bleu] The following are the statements of different organisations and individuals, representing the civil society, on ‘Operation Green Hunt’, Maoist violence and the proposed negotiations between the Union Government and CPI (Maoist). These are being presented here for the benefit of our readers.bleu]
‘Operation Green Hunt’—An Euphemism for Genocide of the Tribals
Of significance is the number of killings that has happened ever since the commencement of the ‘Operation Green Hunt’, say, (…)