2011

COMMUNICATION
A part of the otherwise useful article, “Governance and the Armed Forces” (S.G. Vombatkere, Mainstream April 2, 2011, pp. 19-20) seeks to separate the country’s Armed Forces entirely from a particular paramilitary force, the Assam Rifles, that also operates within the country. A riposte to it exists in the editorial “Arrogant Conduct: the forces alienate themselves”, (The Statesman, Kolkata, April 25, 2011), which I quote in full:
In terms of all that is going on in the (…)

India is learnt to be seriously considering whether or not to join an oil refinery project in Georgia, one of the former Soviet republics now an independent state; it has presently been turned into the closest ally of the US in the region headed as it is by a figure who is in effect an American national (a bizarre deve-lopment!) and consistently subserving Washington’s interests, and his stewardship of the country has resulted in disastrous consequences for Georgia.
Any step from the side (…)

The counting of votes for elections to the five State Assemblies now being over, it’s time to analyse the outcome.
The results of the State Assembly elections have dealt a stunning blow to the Left establish-ments, notably the CPM whose present-day juvenile leaders only about three years ago were harbouring the grand illusion of running the Union Government without sharing any responsibility in its functioning by becoming its integral part. They have been forced to bite the dust in West (…)

by HASAN HAMIDULLAH
The US is eager to reclaim its right to mediate between India and Pakistan on disputes between the two neighbouring states of South Asia (and these disputes are not negligible by any reckoning). Despite strong opposition from New Delhi the Obama Administration is trying to invent one pretext after another to reassert that right. The latest one is the water dispute between New Delhi and Islamabad that Washington is seeking to exploit to its advantage.
On February 22, (…)

by HAMID MIR
“It does not matter if I die....my death and the death of others like me will one day awaken millions of Muslims from their apathy.” Osama bin Laden addressed these words to me in March 1997, in a cave in eastern Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains. I was the first Pakistani journalist to interview him. In May 1998 I encountered him for the second time in a hideout near Kandahar airport. He again mentioned his possible death, saying: “They cannot arrest me alive.” I received his (…)

DOCUMENT by BARACK OBAMA
The following are excerpts from US President Barack Obama’s address to the American people on May 2, 2011.
Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the US has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the US (…)

If anybody had hopes that the replacement of a Republican President by a Democratic President would reform, if not begin to dismantle the Empire, their hopes have been totally belied. The continuation of the Bush era policies, military doctrines and strategies by President Obama is deeply disquieting, but not surprising. In the wake of the Bush Administration’s disastrous neoconservative ideologies, the Obama Administration initially appeared to be seeking to realise the liberal (…)

by ADFAR RASHID SHAH
Operation Geronimo by the US forces to kill Osama bin Laden speaks much beyond a mere encounter to eliminate a wanted man. On one hand, it seems a timely vote-bank politics for the coming presidential elections in America, proving the coloured relevance of the war on terror, a clever dramaturgy of exit from Afghanistan, Pakistan etc. as the US and its allies are paying a huge price for keeping their forces inside these turbulent regions. On the other hand, American (…)

Dear Dr Manmohan Singh,
I am writing concerning the decision of the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest, Shri Jairam Ramesh, giving final forest and environmental clearance to the Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) for its project in Odisha.
Shri Jairam Ramesh and the Odisha Government have disregarded the resolutions of Palli Sabhas (Village Councils) that opposed handover of land for the proposed POSCO project. As per Section 6 of the Forest Rights Act 2006, villagers of (…)

I have no hesitation in acknowledging that I was inspired by Anna Hazare’s fast and the response of the younger generation to it. I was never optimistic that it would be a big step towards some radical change in our rotting system. I knew the hype created by Hazare himself, the media, and the middle- and upper middle-class boys and girls was blowing things out of proportion by creating a myth of the Lokpal as a panacea to weed out corruption. But I thought even a small step towards the right (…)