2011

There is a growing worldwide recognition that adequate protection to the whistleblower is a precondition for a corruption-free democratic society. Over the years whistleblowers have been found dead in mysterious circumstances in India for exposing corruption. Their gruesome killings haunt our memory with a harsh reminder that they are hardly offered any protection. The concern for their protection caught the attention of the entire nation after the murder of Satyendra Dubey, Manjunath (…)

The Black Sea is about to lose its historical exclusivity as a Russian-Turkish preserve. A visit by the USA-TRANSCOM commander General Duncan McNabb to Bucharest has sealed the fate of the Black Sea as the latest entry into the chronicles of the “new great game”.
The US had requested to use Romania’s two military infrastructures as transit place for the carriage of troops and military hardware to and from Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe. On May 2, Romania’s Supreme Council for National (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
June 4, 2011 marks the twentysecond anniversary of the massacre of countless students and youth at Beijing’s famous Tiananmen Square. On this occasion we are reproducing the following piece by N.C. written in July 1989.
Sometime ago, I was attending an interesting discussion on the subject of a national alternative. The discussion concentrated largely on the basic approach to the malaise of the present order, and was bereft of the excitement of a Rajiv-versus-V.P. (…)

A COMPARISON BETWEEN ‘REAGANOMICS’ AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME IN INDIA
Globalisation is an international phenomenon which has swept through every country in the world. But its impact has been varied among countries. Most of the developing countries experienced more of its negative impact than the positive effects. The United States of America (USA), which was the main force behind the process of globalisation, had also experienced its impact. The objective of this article is to (…)

by FRANCIS GONSALVES
Pushpa M. Bhargava’s article in Mainstream (March 24, 2011, pp. 21-22) entitled “Miracles or Hoax by the Clergy?” made interesting reading. While his critique against miracles—specifically, the manipulation and marketing of them by the clergy—is relevant and acceptable, some of the points he raises are neither backed by solid facts nor sound reasoning. Hence, it seems that Bhargava throws out the baby with the bathwater and appears as dogmatic and irrational about his (…)

by SAMUDRA GUPTA
Dear Ms Mamata Banerjee,
At the outset, congratulations. Your relentless struggle and determination with about half-a-dozen of committed followers have derailed the juggernaut of the Left. But, you may not have time for unsolicited advice from a non-entity like yours truly. Nevertheless here are a few:
1. You are at the moment surrounded by rank opportunists, many of them will leave you the day they find a bandwagon more spacious and prospective. Ex-Congressmen (you (…)

Like all the superluxury cars in the world opening showrooms in India, all the great book publishers of the world are opening branches in India. The pull of the Indian middle class is as compelling as the pull of the Indian millionaire class.
But the super cars ensure that they remain super; even if they sell only a dozen cars a year, the price tags will justify their overheads. Book publishers have to have large volumes to sustain the overheads. So the diligence that goes into the (…)

Last Saturday (May 28), at the Golibar slums in the Khar area of Mumbai, Medha Patkar ended her indefinite fast on the 9th day at 1.45 pm by accepting a sip of lemon juice from Akanksha Bai, an 80-year old resident of Ganesh Krupa Housing Society who had herself been in jail for resisting the shun demolition. Medha had not only won a hard-fought battle for the slum- dwellers of Mumbai but also brought into sharp national focus the plight of 93 million Indians who live in the urban slums of (…)

Needless to point out that this turmoil in the neighbourhood relays an eerie build-up. No, definitely no feel-good signs for this entire region, as it gets writ large the indirect interventions of that superpower. The masses sit as sheer victims in these expansionist moves and the duality of roles played by the political characters, here and there. Its no longer hazy that the violence and the accompanying havoc has a pattern to it, a certain structure to it, a definite, much-layered design (…)

While DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi’s daughter and MP Kanimozhi continues to be in Tihar Jail alongwith former Union Telecom Minister A. Raja and Kalaignar TV MD Sharath Kumar (all accused in the 2G spectrum scam), Karunanidhi and his family members have one by one come to the Capital to meet her in a bid to offer her solace and the assurance that they all stand by her. At the same time Karunanidhi, whose woes have definitely mounted on having been humiliated in the just concluded State (…)