2011

Amitava Mukherjee’s write-up captioned “Prime Minister’s Tour of Bangladesh” (Mainstream, September 24, 2011) correctly raises the implications of the ominous Chinese factor which might destabilise our longstanding friendly relations with Bangladesh. Somehow we get the impression that our Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is bent upon having a mollycoddling relationship with Bangladesh ignoring the real and legitimate concerns of the constituent States of the Indian Union surrounding (…)

COMMUNICATION
Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s attempt to explain away the strong public reaction to “sort of misread[ing]” of his affidavit to the Supreme Court, by shifting the blame to the Tendulkar Committee’s findings is dreadfully insensitive and inadequate, and directly in violation of the letter and spirit of Article 43 of the Constitution.
How does the Depuy Chairman of the Planning Commission, paid a hefty salary from public funds (reportedly tax-free), reconcile the living wage of (…)

Everyone has heard of the ruggedness of the “Northwest Frontier Province”, the “forbidden area” where the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran meet, of the merciless codes of honour that govern the lives of the Pushtuns and the Baluchis, of the primitive pride of the tribes that must battle with nature—and with one another—merely to survive.
But exactly how rugged? How merciless? A new book, The Wandering Falcon, provides a rather frightening introduction to what consti-tutes (…)

The two-day visit to New Delhi of Afghan President Hamid Karzai (October 4-5, 2011) has been most productive—his discussions with PM Manmohan Singh were mutually beneficial punctuated as these were with wide convergence of interests and comprehension of the contemporary reality in the region; and the outcome was highly noteworthy with the two leaders concluding the first-ever Afghanistan-India strategic partnership agreement under which India has pledged to “assist, as mutually determined, (…)

The fast by Narendra Modi has got an excessive coverage, which defies logic. The critics have rightly projected it as self-image building by Modi to project himself as the Prime Ministerial candidate and under the cover of the slogan of sadbhavana as an attempt to wash off his sinful conduct in the post-Godhra period. I am clear in my mind that in the matter of the government’s complicity in the gory happenings like the 1984 genocide in Delhi and the 2002 Godhra genocide in Gujarat, there (…)

Muchkund Deubey’s essay entitled “Indo-Bangladesh Relations—Failure of Leadership on the Indian Side” (Mainstream, September 17, 2009) is a seminal contribution to the literature on this subject. It is erudite. It is factual. It gives a comprehensive coverage to the twists and turns of our relationship with our friendly neighbour. And most significantly, it exudes deep empathy for Bangladesh, its people and its culture. Such a learned and cultured piece of diplomatic writing couldn’t have (…)

DOCUMENT
The following is a recent statement issued by the Forum Against War Crimes and Genocide.
About the Forum
The Forum against War Crimes and Genocide is a platform for human rights activists/organisations and other concerned civil society organisations to share their concerns, debate and campaign against “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide” in Sri Lanka. Prof G. Hargopal is its chairperson, This Forum was initiated with a view to holding discussions the “UN Expert (…)

by PARMINDER S. BHOGAL
Delivering this year’s BBC Reith Lecture, Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader in Burma, described herself as a “dissident” and a “democracy activist” who was not merely thinking of “replacing one government with another” or “simply agitating for particular changes in the system”, but one who was “working and living for a cause that was the sum of the aspirations of our people which are not, after all, so very different from the aspirations of the people (…)

It is reported that the decades-old talks with Naga insurgent groups has made some progress recently.1 One reason why talks have a chance in these cases is that separatism comes in layers and degrees: there are numerous real points between complete separation and total subjugation, at least in a progressive federal structure.
This condition does not apply to the Maoist upheaval primarily because the Maoist movement is not a separatist movement. Maoists demand seizure of state power by (…)

ON C.N. CHITTA RANJAN’S 90TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY
The ninetieth birth anniversary of outstanding journalist C.N. Chitta Ranjan took place last week—on September 29. Born in Ooty on September 29, 1921, he breathed his last in New Delhi on August 2, 1990. Besides Working in several newspapers and journals he was Mainstream’s first editor. We remember him by reproducing the pieces written by his friends, colleagues and admirers after his demise in 1990. Most of these appeared in this journal’s (…)