2011

When a hitherto-little-known person or group of persons suddenly comes to dominate the centre-stage in any field, that person or group enjoys a big advantage. People do not know him/it and so they remain unaware of his/its negative side. And if the person or group can exploit an already-rotten and hopeless reality, he or it may scale unexpected heights. All of us know the best example of this is Hitler.
Hitler, anyhow, was an exception. The only person who could come close to him in being (…)

Anna Hazare’s fast seeking the acceptance of the Jan Lokpal Bill, and the widespread mass protests in urban India that followed his arrest from home, have shaken the government. Political parties have woken up to the depth of feeling against corruption. Two factors have come together—the fight for the Jan Lokpal Bill and the violation of the citizen’s civil right to protest. The snowballing protests are seen to be against corruption. Obviously, the public are fed up with the day-to-day (…)

I wonder why hasn’t Anna Hazare and his associates spoken out against this latest hounding of those who dare speak out, who dare to question and raise some unsettling queries. After all, corruption cannot be limited to currency alone. It has a wider and bigger reach, and is linked to the political mafia which seems holding sway.
Anna Hazare ought to have come out in support of the suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and the other Gujarat cadre officers who are getting hounded by the Sate. (…)

Within a fortnight of his announcement to stand in the Russian presidential election in early 2012, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will be heading for Beijing. The Kremlin attaches importance to political symbolism, and the Chinese leaders never cared to hide their warm feelings toward Putin. The talks in Beijing on October 11-12 will attract huge attention internationally.
Energy cooperation, which is an important vector of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership, will inevitably form the (…)

by BHIM REDDY
Introduction
One of the significant distinctions of the current unrest in Telangana with that of the past, since the 1960s, over the demand of a separate State for the region is the participation of the rural masses. The movement was mostly restricted to students and employees in the past. Notwithstanding political articulation on the ‘need for a separate State’, the strife over the concrete experience of deterioration in the economic condition of the rural inhabitants (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
Sri Chandrajit Yadav’s strong statement issued on July 17 crying halt to factionalism and indiscipline inside the Congress organisation, has come not a day too soon. Since it is generally regarded as having the imprimatur of the Prime Minister, the statement may be taken as a measure of consternation felt by Smt Gandhi herself about the fast deteriorating situation inside the Congress.
The monster of factionalism has raised its head in most of the Pradesh Congress (…)

At the time of the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the related inter-national agreements such as Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), serious apprehensions had been expressed about the adverse impacts on people’s livelihoods, health and food security. These apprehensions have by and large turned about to be correct as is evident from the crisis situations faced in several lines of agriculture (and related activities like horticulture) as well as industry. (…)

TRIBUTE
Prof R.S. Rao (74), a retired Professor from Sambhalpur University and a long time intellectual of radical politics in India, passed away on June 17, 2011 in New Delhi. He had suffered a stroke and was in the ventilator for around twenty days. The inevitability of death takes away from us his lively and jovial company and the sharp intellect combined with unswerving commitment to the cause of the common people.
Remembering the critical Marxist tradition of R.S. Rao, we would (…)

by JOHN PILGER
Thank you all for coming to the 12th annual award of the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Some would say there are too many awards for journalism that merely celebrate the status quo. The Martha Gellhorn Prize is very different. We believe it’s the most prestigious and sought-after award for journalism in Britain because it recognises that the best journalists are subversives—because the truth is so often subversive.
Let me quote in full why we give it: “This prize (…)

by M.M. KHAJOORIA
Ali Sarwar Naqvi, a former Pakistan diplomat, in his perceptive piece titled “International Isolation” (Dawn, August 17, 2011), wrote: “As has happened several times in the past, Pakistan is facing international isolation once again. Somehow we land ourselves in a situation ever so often where we are on one side and the rest of the world is on the other.” Interestingly, he quotes four instances from history to illustrate his point. Two of these directly concern India. (…)