2011

by BISWAJIT ROY
“It began as a tenacious essay in political realism, entered a phase of sheer drama unbelievable in its unreality, and ended in the bitter rattle of gunfire. The reference is to the ‘talks’ between Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s government in Andhra Pradesh and the Naxalites (2004).” —K. Balagopal, Economic and Political Weekly, March 26, 2005
With Maoist top-gun Kishenji’s killing in an encounter, fake or genuine, the peace process between the CPI (Maoist) and Mamata Banerjee (…)

The year 1991 marked a watershed, almost a U-turn, in the Indian economic policy pursued over forty years from 1951 to 1991, often described as a Nehruvian model of economic policy. The major features of that model included what came to be known as the ’socialist pattern’ of society, a planned economy, emphasis on public sector enterprises and heavy industries which were expected to gain the commanding heights of the economy, autarky, import substitution and self-reliance. The new economic (…)

In the late 1970s the world entered an era of turmoil. The so-called golden age of capitalism gave way to stagflation, that is, stagnation in output along with inflation. Unemployment soared. A chaotic situation prevailed. People of advanced capitalist countries were bewildered. Questions were sought to be raised about the efficacy of the long-continuing Keynesian approach that had rescued America and other Western countries from the Great Depression. Votaries of some almost dead or zombie (…)

In an address to the Congress Parliamentary Party on December 8, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee lamented that the UPA coalition was forced to suspend the Cabinet decision to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail (like Wal-Mart, Tesco, Carrefour and others) in order to avert a mid-term poll. Mukherjee mourned that this ’progressive’ measure—which would please Western govern-ments pushing for FDI in the Indian retail sector—had to be sacrificed because (…)

After experiencing twenty years of the ‘Reform’ process Manmohan Singh started in 1991, it seems the ‘messiah’ wants to be remembered in future only by the elite of the country as their greatest champion. Perhaps he does not care for the rest, and will be least perturbed if they remember him as someone who harmed their existence in many ways. But, the social cost the country will have to pay in future for the insensitive part of the reform process may turn out to be huge. Singh’s recent bold (…)

by SATISH K. JHA
The true meaning of the Anna phenomenon would be known only in due course of time. In the meantime, the debate surrounding the Anna movement has got so much charged up that it is becoming difficult to make a political judgment on it.
The whole spectrum of the debate is so diverse and polarised that the characterisations of the movement have acquired mind-boggling proportion. It starts at one end by declaring it as a middle class cyber-politics and a corporate sponsored (…)

How times change! It is routine these days for a Chennai businessman to take a morning flight to Delhi, complete his work there, and return the same night to the bliss of his own bed. A briefcase is more than enough by way of baggage.
Things were somewhat different in the days of Enugula Veeraswamy, a Madras denizen of the 1830s. He went on a pilgrimage to Banaras which took him “one year, three months, five days and ten minutes” to complete. That was mainly because the mode of transport (…)

The words ‘civil society’ have become quite popular lately, thanks mainly to the recent movement against corruption led by Anna Hazare. At least one good thing that has emerged is the consciousness and self-consciousness of the civil society, whatever may be its interpretation by various commentators. Unfortunately, for the most part, the term is being used without its real and scientific meaning.
Scientific Interpretation
CIVIL SOCIETY delimits that part of the society which is not (…)

BOOK REVIEW
India: 2009 Elections—Coalition Politics, Party Competition and Congress Continuity by Paul Wallace and Ramashray Roy (ed.); Sage Publications, New Delhi; 2011; pages XVIII+412; Price Rs 995.
This book is a continuation of the earlier election studies—Indian Politics and the 1998 Elections: Regionalisation, Hindutva and State Politics (1999); India’s 1999 Elections and the 20th Century Politics (2003), India’s 2004 Elections: Grassroots and National Perspectives (2007)—which (…)

RIVER, RIVER SURELY DYING
It was at the 1981 session of the Indian Science Congress in Varanasi that scientists expressed concern at the growing chemical and biological pollution in the river Ganga in presence of the then Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi. As a result of her initiative, the Planning Commission asked the Central Board for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, New Delhi to conduct studies on the state of the river Ganga. In collaboration with the State Pollution Control (…)