2011

Election Commissions and voting machines can only tell us a superficial kind of truth. The substantive, eternal truth is that those who win are not always the winners and those who lose are not necessarily the real losers. Never was this eternal truth more dramatically brought out than in the latest five State elections. Look behind the headlines to know who are the real winners and losers.
The biggest winners are not Mamata Banerjee and J. Jayalalitha. The size of their victory margins (…)

Noted writer and novelist Taslima Nasreen wrote the following piece for The Times of India where it was published. However, after its publication she sent the original piece to the Mainstream editor because in the daily’s Delhi edition the last part was abridged. We are carrying the original in full, with the author’s permission, for the benefit of our readers.
It is my conviction that most people who voted for Trinamul voted not because of love for or confidence in the party but from (…)

by KUSAL PERERA
“Declare Rajapakse a war criminal: Jayalalithaa tells Centre”—was a banner headline on Friday, May 13, in The Indian Express, following AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa’s march to victory at the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections concluded last week. No analyst expected the DMK-Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu to be so unmercifully smothered at the elections. Never has the DMK fallen to third place in the Assembly elections ever before. Not even after MGR created the AIADMK in 1972 and (…)

Kerala is one of the highly politicised States in India. The political sensibility of the State is the result of decades of political movements, social reform movements, and massive partici-pation of the people in the electoral process. Kerala was the first State in India to have elections on the basis of universal adult francise in the erstwhile state of Travancore held in 1948. After the formation of the State in 1956, the first general election to the Legislative Assembly was held in 1957. Through this election Kerala came on the map of global politics by becoming the first State in Asia to have Communists coming to power through the parliamentary process. The State witnessed 14 Legislative Assembly elections and the same number of Lok Sabha polls. Elections to the State Legislative Assembly were held in 1957, 1960, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011.

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
Politics in this country has been passing through a cleansing process. The imprint of mass consciousness can be seen even in the jungle of petty factional moves and manipulations.
New wind is blowing through the corridors of power; its warmth could be felt even in the sophisticated political labyrinth of New Delhi, in the instant reactions of the common man to the Supreme Court verdict against the Presidential derecognition of the princes. The hoary-headed judges (…)

This tale seems to be getting layered. Murkier than one expected. And it seems all those wise heads that America can possibly boast off didn’t really bother to pay much attention to the glaring loopholes in those versions doing the rounds. No, just about these two words—‘Osama killed’—aren’t adequate for the natives, for America’s versions of that killing does not carry a sense of closure. Also, there are far too many twists and turns to it. And don’t overlook another basic fact—the numbers (…)

Anna Hazare is campaigning against corruption. The people’s attention is focussed on bribery and money-making forms of corruption, which can be smelt by intelligent lay public and established by diligent enquiry on the basis of common sense logic.
There is another kind of corruption which is more insidious—appointing members of scientific and technical advisory panels, the majority of whom would belong to the lobby of the manufacturers whose products they are supposed to analyse and (…)

To possess a Swiss bank account was at one time a matter of prestige, and signified status and position in society. Swiss neutrality and national sovereignty created an environment conducive to develop its banking institutions, which contributed to its economy.
The banking laws of the country were codified by the Swiss Federal Banking Act of 1934, bringing into being the rule of secrecy. Banks were not under any duty or obligation to provide details of customer accounts to tax (…)

BOOK REVIEW
by PADMINI SWAMINATHAN
Civil Disobedience: Two Freedom Struggles, One Life by L.C. Jain; The Book Review Literary Trust, New Delhi; 2010; pp. 266; Rs 395.
The meticulously recorded details and hard-hitting nature of the contents of the above book are in complete contrast to the person that I knew as Lakshmi Jain—a very calm and composed person, with a very curious mind, and a great listener.
This is the second book of Lakshmi that I have read from cover to cover; the (…)

TRIBUTE
It is a matter of grave sorrow that one of the greatest theatre luminaries of modern Indian theatre, Badal Sircar, is no more. He died in Kolkata on Friday, May 13. He was a creative genius, a rationalist (born into a family of Christian priests, he remained an atheist throughout his life), a firm believer in justice. With his death, an era of pro-people political theatre comes to an end. Of course, he will remain alive through his works. He shunned publicity. I am reproducing (…)