2011

It is good that poverty has been widely discussed recently in India, but a careful look at the context of most of this discussion would reveal that this debate has been overwhelmingly devoted to norms on the basis of which poverty may be defined or the poor may be classified.
In a language so familiar to India’s poverty discourse, we may say that the debate has been almost obsessed with the APL-BPL issue (the classification of people between ‘above the poverty line’ and ‘below the poverty (…)

The irony is so stark that it exposes the sham of it all. The criminals who attacked a corruption-fighting lawyer (Prashant Bhushan) in his chamber called themselves the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena. Those who gathered to see the attackers in a court were assaulted by thugs who called themselves the Sri Ram Sene. Bhagat Singh was a patriot whose writings showed great discretion and judgment and whose memory is honoured by all sections of people. Sri Ram is the most revered of all divinities in (…)

by MRINAL CHATTERJEE
October 24 is observed as the UN Day. The following article is being published in that context.
The United Nations (UN) was founded on October 24, 1945, at a time in history when a large number of people in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean still lived under alien rulers. The principles and values under which the UN was created served to inform and give moral and political authority to the struggle against colonialism and apartheid. With great foresight (…)

Several social and political organisations have strongly condemned the attack on eminent activist advocate Mr Prashant Bhushan in his chamber at the Supreme Court complex. We are concerned about the growing intolerance in the political arena of the country in the recent past. We are of the view that violence has no space in a democracy and different points of view must always be put across peacefully and can always be discussed.
We extended our solidarity with Mr Prashant Bhushan and his (…)

The country is facing an unprecedented crisis today.
While veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani has embarked on his new rath yatra, christened as the Jan Chetna Yatra (to demarcate it from the Ram rath yatra he organised in 1990), aimed at fighting corruption and black money, from Bihar’s Sitab Diara, Jayaprakash Narayan’s birthplace, with State CM Nitish Kumar (who was conspicuous by his absence from Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s sadhbhavna fast in Gandhinagar), himself flagging off the 38-day (…)

Currently trilateral and quadrilateral dialo-gues in the Asia-Pacific region have become quite fashionable. Such dialogues are being actively encouraged by the US and its time-tested reliable satellites like Japan. The next step is to evolve an Axis of Democracy which Washington aggressively promotes and seeks to translate into reality. It is an undeniable fact of life that thanks to the US propaganda machine a sizeable section of the Indian strategic community has voluntarily joined the (…)

Poor people are in chains of poverty. And nobody can insult a man in chains. The definition of Rs 32 as the poverty line has submerged the Below Poverty Line into Below Pollution Line. The most valiant act of social reform in perverse! Or removing poverty?
I am not an economist to propound any theory. But I know two things. The first thing is that the strength of the chain lies in the weakest link and so is that of the society. The second thing that I put here relates to the views of some (…)

Sardar Montek Singh Ahluwalia, He plan my poverty; Suddenly I am a rich man, For my income is thirtythree. Having crossed the line by a whole Rupee, I now have more and more; I see around my jhuggi things I never could see before. That magic buck floats angelic Beyond my penury; The thirty two upon the ground Reach up for the Christmas tree. The knowledge that this extra buck Puts me among the haves, Makes me feel I needed not The sumptuous fishes and loaves That I never had nor ever will (…)

by JOHN CHATHANATT
There is nothing which has a deeper hold on public attention today than the issue of corruption. This cancerous problem needs to be addressed adequately and the remedy must be found immediately. The misery and wretchedness which press so heavily on the large majority of the very poor at this juncture of Indian history makes it imperative to address the issue quickly.
The enormous accumulation of wealth stacked up in personal houses and banks like the Swiss bank, the (…)

The vital spirit or animating force unleashed by liberalisation always presented an encouraging line of vision for the freewheeler. When the hope was rendered into tangibles, the outcome was mixed. In some cases the margins of performance error grew in inverse proportion to the rectitude of the past. Antecedent conditions, however, happened to include red tape and procrastination. There would equally have been wholesome success stories of material gain within the parameters of sound (…)