2010

TRIBUTE
The country has suffered one more loss in the passing away of its popular leader, Ram Niwas Mirdha. He was one of the best kinds of the second generation Congressmen, steady and stoic and stood tall amidst turmoil or stagnation hoping bad times to pass for better ones. It is a tribute to him that he bided for time among lean days though in good ones he rose to be a Communications Minister, the Speaker of the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha and Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy. (…)

Women’s groups have started talking about the coming March 8, a day which in recent times has become a ritual. This is true of other ‘days’ too, including August 15 and January 26. One can say that this is natural, as time goes on and new generations and new situations demand energy, time and thought over fresh ‘days’. But should that mean forgetting the past? It should not, I hold.
An annual Day for Women or Women’s Day has been observed mainly in Europe and the USA for nearly a (…)

It was a typically American marketing trick when the Vogue magazine described Leela Naidu as one of the world’s ten most beautiful women. As if there is an endoscope that will measure the specific gravity of beauty. It’s like the Time magazine, another gimmickry specialist, publishing lists of “tomorrow’s Asian leaders”. Some of them end up in prison for misdemeanour, but Time gets its mileage from the thousands of Indians who lap up the lists with colonial loyalty.
Leela Naidu was (…)

This research paper critically evaluates the PWDVA 2005. Violence against women has been acknowledged both nationally as well as internationally as a violation of human rights of women, something that impairs the overall development of women. This paper is divided into three parts. The first part of the paper gives a brief history of various IPC (Indian Penal Code), CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) and Civil Law protections available to women against violence in India. The second part deals (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Emergence of Regional Parties in India—Implications for National Parties, Policies and the Democratic System by Ajay K. Mehra and O.P. Sharma; Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Publication Series, Serial No 24, New Delhi; 2008; 130 pages.
Political parties are the link between the society and people in a democracy. They have been harbingers of national struggle, oxygen for exchange of ideas, platform to put forward issues in a democracy. A national party has appeal across the nation (…)

Though this time of the year there ought to be much love in the air and about, but there’s pain. The recent killings of two teenaged boys by the security forces on the streets of Srinagar has brought about a further dent. Outrage-cum- hopelessness, which comes about when there is havoc taking place night in front of your eyes and yet you can do just about nothing to cry a crying halt!
And even elsewhere things don’t seem brightening up. Whether those big games getting played in (…)

Maqbool Fida Hussain is at the very centre of a storm whose after-effects are extremely relevant for our democracy—both for the democratic structure of our state and for the preservation of democratic values in our society.
It is not that Hussain is at the centre of a controversy for the first time; in fact, it is seldom he is out of one. He has got thousands of fans, not all because of the beauty of his art but quite a large number applauding him for what would have been called (…)

[The following article reached us quite sometime ago but could not be used earlier due to unavoidable reasons. —Editor]
One of the most tragic happenings of the decade is the breakdown of the Sri Lankan ceasefire in 2006 and its aftermath resulting in the horrors of war crime and slaughter of the innocent Tamil population of Sri Lanka. Why did it happen and could it have been avoided? These were some of the questions posed before the Permanent People’s Tribunal (successor to the Bertrand (…)

The gods are dying. Rivers that have traditionally been revered like gods in India, the sacred Ganga and Yamuna, are comatose. In the last few decades reckless diversion of river water and irresponsible use of rivers as channels for urban sewerage and untreated industrial effluents has dramatically transformed our rivers into dirty drains.
The Yamuna, now a dirty drain in Delhi, is hardly in the image of gods for Hindus. It is difficult even to imagine that emperor Shahjahan would (…)

The recent terrorist attack in Kabul killing several Indians once again bears testimony to the desperation of the anti-Indian terrorist outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is learnt to have been instrumental in carrying out the latest Kabul terror strike, to target Indian nationals in Afghanistan. Of course, they are operating under the directive and with the full assistance of the Pakistani intelligence working overtime in its bid to diminish Indian influence in that South West Asian (…)