2012

COMMUNICATION
A.K. Biswas, in his article, “Jaipal Singh Munda”, had provided many unknown facets of Jaipal Singh (Mainstream, Vol 50, No. 9, February 10-14, 2012), whom I consider the real successor to Birsa Munda, a freedom fighter. The grateful people of Bihar had established an agricultural university in his name in Ranchi, the heartland of the Adivasis. My generation knows Jaipal Singh not only as the captain of the Indian Olympic Hockey team, but also as one of the tallest leaders of (…)

MANISHA MISHRA
“…. It is impossible to impart vigour to the country’s politics unless the uneducated are given a proper place in the leadership”. —Rammanohar Lohia1
March 23, 2012 marks the 102nd birth anniversary of that legend of Indian politics, who had dedicated his whole life for the emancipation of the disadvantaged and marginalised classes. On this occasion, there has been a renewed political curiosity and awareness about the versatile personality of Rammanohar Lohia, the depth of (…)

SANJAY DESHPANDE and MANENDRA SAHU
The twentyfirst century is witnessing a slow shift in power from the West to the East. The fast growth in ‘emerging economies’ like Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, commonly referred to as BRICS, is responsible for this change. The growth in these economies is taking place when the nations of Europe are still struggling to come out of the 2008 economic meltdown. In the days ahead, the group of BRICS is going to become much stronger. A close (…)

BOOK REVIEW
PREETPAL SINGH
Dynamics of Party System and Coalition Governments in India by Ranpal Singh and Tejvir Singh (eds.); Alfa Publications, New Delhi; 2012; pp. XVIII + 143; Rs 700.
The Constitution-makers had set up a parliamentary system of government in India. But that needed a two-party system. Hence, the Single-Ballot-Simple-Majority System had been introduced instead of the Proportional Representation System to ensure the same. But the historic role of the Congress in the (…)

In our elections, nobody is voted in; always somebody is voted out and somebody else steps into the vacancy by default.
This was the pattern since the Emergency. Indira Gandhi was so dictatorial during those two years that she was thrown out humiliatingly. The Janata Party then took office, but performed so miserably that it could last only two years. In the 1980 election people threw out that lot. And who came in? The only available alternative, Indira Gandhi.
More graphic is the (…)

COMMUNICATION
NAYA BIHAR—DAWN OF A NEW ERA
On carefully reading of the article captioned, “New Questions in Naya Bihar: The Cry of Vernacular Academics” (Mainstream, Vol L, No 10, February 25, 2012) by Dev N. Pathak, I feel a genuine urge to place on record my personal experience. The author’s pointed reference to the eminence and sarcasm of Prof Nawal Kishor Chaudhury of the Department of Economics at a two-day national seminar is indeed interesting.
“I wonder whether Nitish Kumar is (…)

The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is in the grip of a fresh crisis with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee slamming her party’s nominee in the Union Cabinet, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, for having taken in his maiden Railway Budget the first initiative in 10 years at “fare rationalisation”—making train fares 10-20 per cent higher for all classes according to the distance being travelled, the “fare rationali-sation” models in two forms enabling the Railways to earn Rs 4000 crores (…)

Even though the neoliberal dispensation has collapsed all over the world, its votaries in the corridors of power in India are behaving like the proverbial boy on the burning deck. They believe in the mantra of TINA (there is no alternative). It becomes quite obvious by casting even a cursory glance on the cover of the Economic Survey 2011-12, placed in the two Houses of Parliament on March 15. It, in the words of the authors, “depicts long and short run Phillips curves which highlight the (…)

In the just-concluded Assembly elections in UP, the Samajwadi Party (SP) stormed into power with an absolute majority, winning 224 seats out of 403. Binary categories of political analysis are grossly inadequate to understand the dynamics of political change in the State. Though Maya-wati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was ousted by the SP, she was able to retain the loyalty of her core vote-bank of the Jatav caste and get 26 per cent of the vote-share, just four per cent less than that of the (…)

State elections may not predict the shape of next the Lok Sabha in 2014, but they do reflect the mood of the electorate. UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur which went to the polls indicate that the ruling Congress is declining rapidly. The party is nowhere in UP despite Indira Gandhi’s family descending on the state in full strength. Punjab and Uttarakhand, which were expected to go to the Congress, have slipped from its hands. The party has been routed in Goa and the only consolation (…)