2011

The massive victory of the JD(U)- BJP alliance in the recent Assembly elections in Bihar has been eulogised to the skies by the civil society and mass media and depicted as the beginning of new politics in Bihar, cooling the caste cauldron and changing the prevailing anarchy to order. It has been said that the people of Bihar have voted for the Nitish Kumar-led alliance because it generated a new hope and sense of pride among the people as well as an inspiration for the future. The analysts (…)

The following are the author’s answers to the questions he received on phone in response to his three articles on Kashmir published in the Mainstream. You have been eloquent about Kashmiriyat. What is so special about it? You have also said that Wahabi Islam has eclipsed Kashmiri culture. What is Wahabi Islam and how could it submerge Kashmiriyat?
Ans: Kashmiriyat is a culture founded in the teachings of Shaykh Nooruddin, who was also called Nund Rishi. His father was an early convert to (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
The security environment in which the Republic of India steps into the thirtyeight year of its eventful career this week, is, to say the least, disturbing indeed. While one earnestly hopes that the Pakistani arms build-up along our frontier may not escalate into one more tragic war between the two neighbours, the climate of confrontation seems of have already set in. This by itself is an extremely unsettling development which not only threatens to vitiate normal (…)

Netai is a medium-sized village situated deep inside Jungle Mahal of West Bengal’s West Midnapore district and on the banks of the river Kangsabati, locally known as Kasai. The popu-lation of the village is around 2000. The villagers’ main occupation is agriculture. The area is famous for winter vegetables because of their quality and size. It is about 3.5 km from Lalgarh town.
It had been a peaceful area. There was no intrusion from the armed Maoist groups. Except during the height of (…)

Give a lathi to a dim-witted psychopath and his new ability to break heads and limbs with it will soon have him drunk on power. He will want ever bigger lathis with which to wreak more destruction.
In its action against Binayak Sen the State has been that violent imbecile. It seems reflexively to have selected the most destructive weapon in its arsenal: the charge of sedition.
It is beyond comprehension how a physician who works for the poor, and who attempts to prevent their further (…)

If last month’s official visit by President Dmitry Medvedev to India came anywhere near being marred, it was from a most unexpected quarter —onions. Indians can’t make curries without onions but now 80 per cent of them can’t afford this vegetable. They were contemplating how to substitute onions with finely chopped leaks when Medvedev arrived.
Yet, the visit became a page-turner and the youthful President calmed the eye on our tired, jaded political landscape. The visit was “bound to be (…)

TRIBUTE
It is with a deep sense of grief and sorrow that I write this piece to report the sad demise of Kandadi Gopalaswamy Kannabiran, affectionately called Kanna. He passed away on December 30, 2010, at the age of 81, after prolonged illness. The Amnesty International (AI) has hailed him as “a passionate advocate for human rights”.
Born on November 8, 1929 in Madurai (Tamil Nadu) to Kandadi Gopalaswamy Iyenger and Pankajan, he had his early early education in Nellore where his family (…)

BOOK REVIEW
by Arvind Kumar
Indian Foreign Policy in a Unipolar World by Harsh V. Pant (ed.); Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group, London, pp. IX + 378; Price: £ 70.00
With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union many realists argue that unipolarity has arrived…the USA, in other words, is the sole great power. It has achieved global hegemony, a feat no other country has ever accomplished. Other realists, however, argue that the post-Cold War system is multipolar, (…)

by Firdaus Ahmed
Washington Post informs: ‘US efforts fail to convince Pakistan’s top general to target Taliban’ (December 31, 2010). It writes that ‘In October, Administration officials choreographed a White House meeting for Kayani at which Obama could directly deliver his message of urgency. The Army Chief heard him out, then provided a 13-page document updating Pakistan’s strategic perspective and noting the gap between short-term US concerns and Pakistan’s long-term interests, (…)