2012

Anjali Damania, the anti-corruption volunteer, is the daughter of an RSS worker of long, and brought up to believe in the values of clean and patriotic conduct. Such are the facts she has revealed in her long sms sent to Shri Nitin Gadkari, the RSS scion, after, as per her averment, her meeting with him on August 14. Shri Gadkari has since denied meeting Anjali, and issued her a legal notice.
In that sms message, and subsequently in a number of television interactions, she has expressed (…)

Recently the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs and Panchayat Raj, V. Kishore Chandra Deo, created a stir by asking the Andhra Pradesh Government to cancel the lease of seven bauxite mines in Visakhapatnam to protect the land rights and livelihood of tribals living in the Scheduled areas. However, much more important than the case of these seven mines taken by itself is the wider initiative of the Minister to implement strong constitutional provisions for the protection of tribals’ rights (…)

India has a rich history of political culture to engage with the state. The transition from a colonial hegemonic state to a post-colonial, non-hegemonic, democratic and decentralised state that claims to be increasingly citizen-friendly, needs to be seen in relation to the different contextual trajectories of such engagements with the state. Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in understanding the complex and dynamic nature of state-citizen relationship in the context of the (…)

A multi-billion dollar arms deal with Iraq, a summit meeting with Turkey, a fence-mending exercise with Saudi Arabia, a debut with Egypt’s Sphinx-like Muslim Brothers—all this is slated to happen within the period of a turbulent month in the Middle East. And all this is to happen when the United States’ “return” to the region after the hurly-burly of the November election still seems a distant dream. Simply put, Russia is suddenly all over the Middle East.
Moscow announced on October 9 (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
October 20 this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Chinese aggression on India. On this occasion we are carrying N.C.’s ‘New Delhi Skyline’ published in Mainstream seven days after the invasion.
A fresh appraisal of values has overtaken New Delhi with the shock of the massive Chinese aggression on the far-flung frontier from Ladakh to NEFA.
In the course of a single week, the nation faced the dangerous implications of a militarily powerful neighbour (…)

On October 20, 1962, the Chinese Army launched a full-fledged aggression—there is no point in trying to dilute that hard fact by saying it was a mere ‘border war’—against India. This year, 2012, marks half-a-century of that event when India was humiliated and defeated decisively. Pandit Nehru and his close associate of those days, Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon, were squarely blamed for his alleged gullibility and trustfulness on two counts. One, his inability to read the Chinese (…)

The India-China war in 1962 is 50 years old. Yet the question that remains unanswered is whether it was a military debacle or a political hara-kiri. It is true that our defence forces were vanquished and got a thorough beating. But are they to blame or the political masters who pushed them into the war when there were no preparations?
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru cannot escape the blame because he is the one who ordered the Army to throw out the Chinese who had occupied our territory (…)

DOCUMENT
The following is a factual background to the large-scale Chinese invasion that took place in September-October 1962. It was released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)’s External Publicity Division around that time fifty years ago.
The boundary between India and China extends over 2200 miles. The boundary of Sikkim with the Tibet region of China extends over 140 miles while that of Bhutan extends over 300 miles. The entire length of this border has been either defined by (…)

AFTER FIFTY YEARS
Even fifty years after the India-China war of 1962, balanced and dispassionate analysis of the event is hard to come across. While the Chinese side of the story is available in plenty there is a strange and inexplicable diffidence from the side of the Government of India in placing in proper perspective what had really happened at that time. There have been two casualties of this sheepish approach. First is the reputation and credibility of the then Prime Minister (…)

The following is the full text of the resolution adopted at the first mee;ting of the CPI National Council after the Chinese aggression. Thiis meeting took place in New Delhi on November 1, 1962.
The National Council of the Communist Party of India meeting in New Delhi in the present grave period of national emergency, appeals to all sections of the Indian people to unite in defence of the motherland against the Chinese aggression. The Communist Party joins hands with all our patriotic (…)