2011

by A. Ramaiah
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” The Indian Constitution is also very much in tune with these universal ideals with its commitment to secure all citizens liberty, equality and fraternity. But according to the Brahmanic theory of caste, which is still the dominant theory, all (…)

America is at it again. Yes, once again. Doing what it’s infamous for—killing of civilians, perishing of beings, bombarding those locales which are far beyond its official jurisdiction. It seems bizarre and yet in this new world order you have a pack of countries which send their fighter jets to bombard those lands which dare defy its orders. What with American President Obama chanting that he ‘can’t stand idly’ and so he did indulge in that pastime—air strikes. This time on the Libyans. And (…)

(This article was written much earlier last year by Kobad Ghandy, the Maoist leader, from Tihar Jail No. 3 (where he is lodged) for Mainstream but it reached us late. However, we are publishing it in view of the importance of its contents. He has promised to write a sequel to it. —Editor)
On June 5, US economist Nouriel Roubini said in an interview: “The eurozone is facing a period of zero growth if not recession, and the United States is heading for financial trouble.”
If corporate (…)

The constant talk of GDP growth and how India is one of the growth engines of the world, trumpeted day in and day out by our Ministers, media and Western experts, intrigue me. I wanted to read between the lines of growth statistics. I obtained the growth figures of the Indian economy from 1990-91 onward up to 2010-11. Up to 2005-06 the figures are from Wikipedia quoting authentic Government of India source, and the rest from the pages of a recent issue of Mainstream. (Anshuman Gupta 2011) (…)

Santosh Bhattacharyya, the former Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University, who passed away in Kolkata last month, was an eminent Left intellectual, a distinguished economist and an uncompromising crusader for preserving the independence of educational institutions from intrusive political interference of the government in narrow partisan interests.
He came in touch with the nascent Left movement in undivided Bengal as a student in the early 1940s and later became a wholetimer of the (…)

by M Benson Thomas
A major dimension of the ongoing discourse on the population spurt in India is the significant question whether the country can attain the benefits of ‘demographic dividend’. By demo-graphic dividend we mean a rise in the rate of economic growth due to a rising share of the working age population. It is understood that the dividend occurs when a decline of birth and death within a short span of time creates an excessive shift in the age structure of the population (…)

When Neville Maxwell is on the move, can misfortune be far behind? This former British journalist recently published an article on “The Pre-history of the Sino-Indian Border Dispute”. (Mainstream, February 12, 2011) The gist is that India has no business being in Arunachal Pradesh.
Maxwell’s thesis is that Henry McMahon who drew the present border “engaged in cartographic trickery” to produce a “deceitful map”. As for Olaf Caroe who succeeded McMahon, he “began to falsify evidence so that (…)

Due to his seminal role in the framing of the Indian Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar is popularly known all over India as the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. His efforts to eradicate social evils were remarkable and that is why he is called the “messiah” of the Dalits and downtrodden in India. Dr Ambedkar was appointed the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. The text prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil (…)

KAZAKELECART 2011
by R.G. Gidadhubli
During the last few months popular uprisings have swept several countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia. For instance, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Kyrgyzstan etc. have witnessed mass unrest and violent protests against authoritarian regimes. The Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, who was ruling for decades, was forced to relinquish power. The fate of the Libyan President Gaddafi is hanging in balance. In the Kyrgyz Republic the former (…)

by P.N. Sadhu
The following piece is being published as a point of view of the author who himself is a Kashmir Pandit.
It is a privilege for me to write an article on what ails the Kashmiri Pandit community. What prompted me to write this is a request by the Kashmir Samiti, Panchkula.
Although I do not consider myself qualified to comment on this vast and complex subject, still in the following paras I pen down my thoughts and suggestions.
We, of the Kashmiri Pandit community, have (…)