2012

A STUDY OF ENGELS’ INTRODUCTION
“The Communist Manifesto had already proclaimed the winning of universal suffrage, of democracy, as one of the first and most important tasks of the militant proletariat,” (Engels’ Introduction of 1895 to Marx’s The Class Struggles in France, SW1, Moscow, 1973, p. 195)
These are the words of Frederick Engels on the attitude of the Communists to the struggle for universal suffrage. In this entire para, Engels clearly expresses himself in favour of not only (…)

[Vyacheslav I. Trubnikov, one of the best and most respected Russian ambassdors to this country, wrote the following article on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Victory over Fascism on May 9, 2005 when he headed the Russian embassy in New Delhi. It was carried in Mainstream (May 14, 2005). It is being reproduced seven years later as we observe the 67th anniversary of the end of Hitlerite Fascism on May 9 this week.]
In Russia’s calendar of memorable dates the 9th of May (…)

Several moves by the state, judiciary and ruling party to muzzle the press have come into focus on the national plane of late. In the global arena, especially in the West, May Day this year has been observed by the working people venting their anger at the growing joblessness and rising austerity measures, and this anger threatens to topple the rulers in Paris and Athens; but in Moscow more than a lakh of workers celebrated Labour Day with a Soviet-style march demonstrating their support for (…)

(Rabindranath Tagore’s 151st birth anniversary falls on Sunday (May 8, 2012) marking the conclusion of the celebrations that began with the 150th anniversary of his birth last year. We remember him and offer our sincere homage to his abiding memory on this occastion by reproducing the following poem, another poem (on page 9) and two articles (on pages 4 to 10 and page 12) that bring out some lesser known aspects of the Poet’s exceptionally creative activities. —Editor) where you walk in (…)

A Tagore play that has a lot of relevance today is Muktadhara (‘The Waterfall’ in his own translation, both dated 1922). It is set in the open—in fact its original title was Path or ‘Way’—on the road to Lord Bhairava’s temple in a hilly country, with a quick shift of actors. The occasion is the completion of a dam, a marvel of engineering. People have come to celebrate it and felicitate its builder, Bibhuti, or have come out of curiosity in it or to bemoan their loss in its (…)

In celebrating the 150th birth anniversary year of the giant poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore, it would be no small a tribute if we recall, recognise, and evaluate him more adequately and comprehensively than ever before as an activist who had remained in his entire creative life immensely concerned, tirelessly active, and deeply thoughtful about rural material poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, superstitions, and such other social evils in our country, and also about the ideals and notions (…)

As I look around this dear old earth I see the vast wave of common mass traversing by diverse ways the endless track from life to death, urged on by common human needs from times immemorial. It is they that row and they that sit at the helm. It is they that sow the seeds and they that toil at the harvest. They remain the same through ages —the toilers. The spectres snap, the war-drums beat no more, columns of victory stand in stupid silence, bloodshot eyes and bloodstained (…)

India and Pakistan are seldom on the same page. Partly, it is because they carry the baggage of tragic history and partly because they have no trust in each other. Above all, there is a general perception in India that since the Army is a decisive factor in the affairs of Pakistan, it is not possible to foster any meaningful relation-ship until it becomes a democratic polity in the real sense. In fact, from the time General Moham-mad Ayub Khan took over the reins of Pakistan in 1958, India (…)

On February 9, 2010, the then Minister of Environment and Forests, Government of India, Jairam Ramesh, imposed an indefinite moratorium on the introduction of Bt Brinjal in India. It is necessary and desirable to quote the order verbatim. It reads as follows:
It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary based approach and impose a moratorium on the release of Bt Brinjals till such time independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of both the public and professionals, (…)

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
While several environmental threats and losses require our immediate and urgent atten-tion, top priority should be given to those large-scale threats which are of an irreversible nature. In the case of such threats, once the damage has been done it may not be possible to reverse or undo the damage. The harm to the environment may then be not just large-scale but in addition it is also likely to be permanent. Of course, the biggest worldwide threat of climate change (…)