2012

Every time there is a conviction in the Gujarat riots case, I begin to hope that the day is not far when the real culprit, State Chief Minister Narendra Modi, will be brought to book. The 28-year-long sentence awarded to Maya Kodnani, who organised the massacre at Naroda-Patiya in Ahmedabad, makes me confident that justice can be delayed—the riots took place in 2002—but not denied. Modi lauded her role on the riots so much that he made her a Minister. But the Supreme Court’s Special (…)

On September 5 last week fell Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s 124th birth anniversary. This day (September 5) is observed as Teacher’s Day every year. We are carrying the following piece and reproducing the relevent article by N.C. on the facing page to mark the occasion.
Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s birthday is celebrated every year as Teacher’s Day. It has an interesting story behind it. Some of his admirers approached him and requested him to allow the celebration of September 5 as his (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The news report, about a government move to oust the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) from the Viceregal Lodge at Shimla and convert the mansion back into the summer retreat of the President of India, is bound to come as a shock to the public. This will bring no laurels for those who have initiated the move.
It is important to note that the Cabinet Secretary leading a Committee of Central Government Secretaries initiated the process by which the prestigious (…)

MPs deliberately wasting an entire session at a monetary cost alone of Rs 170 crore. Dozens of MLAs going on private pleasure trips abroad at public expense. Never has democracy been so openly disgraced in our country. If there is anything more offending than these acts, it is parties putting the blame on one another. All of them are really the same. All of them are irresponsible and unethical when it comes to spending the taxpayer’s money on their private agendas.
Currently a 17-member (…)

So the republic’s “main Opposition party,” the BJP, has no use for Parliament. A mere talking shop, its deliberations do not yield the result that the BJP wants. Exactly what the Maoists maintain.
So when you take the straight line and curve it inward, those distant ends meet. The Right-wing may not want to overthrow the state yet, since they already own a good part of it, but they have finally yielded to team Anna and overthrown Parliament, not through the barrel of the gun but through (…)

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s Report on the Allocation of Coal Blocks has created a countrywide uproar and the working of Parliament has been stalled. Questions are being raised about the mandate of the CAG and whether he has overstepped his jurisdiction. The role of the CAG should be understood in the context of our constitutional framework. The framers of the Indian Constitution recognised his importance as a key instrument in ensuring the accountability of the Executive to (…)

Kobad Ghandy from Tihar Jail is writing on the concept of freedom vis-à-vis present-day society as also in relation to a future just order, bringing out some causes for the failure of the erstwhile socialist states. It will comprise a series of five to six articles. The first article (covering Part I—The Context) appeared in Mainstream’s Independence Day Special (August 18, 2012). —Editor
Part-II—Search for Freedom through History
Throughout history man has searched continuously for (…)

The Bill for reservation in promotions for SC-STs has been cleared by the Cabinet and introduced in the Rajya Sabha. Except for the Samajwadi Party, all the parties have supported it. This does not reflect their goodwill but their acceptance of understanding of the situation in India. Reservations are meant to ensure representation of SC-STs in India’s power structure and must be seen beyond the narrow confines of politics.
The Central Government has cleared the Bill for reservation in (…)

by Hans Huber
Comparing the performance of the Indian Railways with that of Air India should be an intuitive exercise that allows stressing funda-mental issues pertaining to the outlook of two of India’s most prominent PSUs. (See Table 1 for a comparison of the scale of operations) Although a previous paper (Goyal A., 2008) had already applied principles of Transaction Cost Theory (TCE) to a similar topic, its conclusions can appear ambiguous, providing little scope for effective (…)

TRIBUTE
I first met Anil Bordia on the lawns of Pramila Dandavate’s house. Mrinal Gore and Pramila Dandavate, elected to Parliament during the Janata Government, were constantly having informal meetings in their houses getting to know us, Delhiwallas, who had been working on issues related to equality and social justice as well as other change-makers.
One time at Pramila’s residence a tall, slim, straight-backed Anil Bordia stood up and said to me Mera Naam Hai Anil Bordia, in that very (…)