2011

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
Very often nowadays one hears the catch-phrase that “the system has broken down”. It is a common cliché in the intellectual circle all over the country, and has now been taken up by the politician as well—a sort of convenient alibi to cover up their own misdoings.
There is no denying the fact that the acknowledged set of values by which a democratic system functions have been largely abandoned, with the result that while the facade of democratic functioning is (…)

REVIEW ARTICLE
Punjab Politics: Retrospect and Prospect by Bhupinder Singh; Readworthy Publications, New Delhi; 2010; pp. xx + 268; Price: Rs 950.
The study of State politics merits the attention of the Indian scholars in the discipline of political science for many reasons. In the first instance, some of the States of the Indian Union are bigger in the size of their area and population than many nation-states of the Europe. Secondly, the general belief about the weakness of the States (…)

Does the media distort facts? The Prime Minister thinks so. By “focussing excessively” on scam after scam, does the media spoil India’s image? The Prime Minister thinks so. For the leader of a government that is neck-deep in scams, it is natural to think as the Prime Minister does. But that does not make it right. In fact the Prime Minister is hopelessly wrong.
Manmohan Singh was in conversation with television editors. A great deal can be said in criticism of news channels. Generally (…)

The enormity of the natural disaster in Japan on account of the earthquake-cum-tsunami that struck that country on March 11 (lately experts have concluded that the quake measured 9 on the Richter scale and not 8.9 as was earlier stated) is coming out in its grotesque form with every passing day. According to latest reports, the quake-cum-tsunami killed an estimated 9400 persons while another 14,700 are reported missing and yet another 2750 have been injured; the damages caused by the (…)

Assurances
In view of the renewed focus on the nuclear industry following the earthquake-tsunami double-whammy in Japan, India’s nuclear industry and its proponents are in overdrive to assure the public that nuclear safety issues are well in hand, but are nevertheless being reviewed. Some supporters of the nuclear programme have questioned the credentials of the common people to question the safety of nuclear power plants (NPPs); one commentator has even accused critics of the nuclear (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
[In the wake of the airstrikes by the US, UK and France on Gaddafi’s Libya, one is reminded of the bombing of Libya, led by the same leader, that the US under Ronald Reagan carried out in April 1986, that is, twentyfive years ago. That is precisely why we are reproducing here one of N.C.’s editorials written at that time. Even though the conditions under which that bombing took place are vastly different from the situation prevailing today, the contents of the (…)

That the sudden spurt of democratic spirit on a street of Tunis in Tunisia as a result of a rather bizarre incident of self-immolation of an IT trained fruit-seller youth who was publicly slapped by a woman police and its spread to the whole country compelled its President Zein-al -Abdeen Ben Ali ending his twentythree-year- long autocracy seemed too strange to believe. But it happened in the full gaze of the whole world. Not only that this new urge for democracy ended the highly corrupt (…)

The imposition of the ‘no-fly-zone’ against Libya under the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17 and subsequent unlawful aggressions by the US, UK and France for two days (March 19-20) seem to show the emerging trend of a new pattern of relationships and activities in international relations which the US desires, that is, of accepting a kind of ‘cowed conformity’ and ‘slavish submission’ by the states which had believed in pursuing independent foreign policies. This has been (…)

DEALS WITH MULTINATIONALS AND OTHER BIG AGRIBUSINESS COMPANIES
A wide range of farmers’ organisations, Gandhian organisations, people’s movements and NGOs have united to oppose a series of disturbing agreements which the Rajasthan Government reached with various multinational and other agribusiness companies including Monsanto. These agreements, which greatly increase the control and influence of these companies over the agriculture sector in India’s biggest State (in terms of area), have (…)

Introduction
The ghost of “Black Money” stashed in Swiss banks continues to haunt the Government of India. The recent disclosure that more than 100 Indians have deposited their ill-gotten money in these banks and the consequent uproar had forced the government to announce, on January 25, 2011, the appointment of a multi-disciplinary committee to look into the matter. However, the Finance Minister (FM) has refused to disclose the names citing legal problems entailing inter-national treaties (…)