2012

Democracy is a basic feature of our Constitution. Parliament and Legislative Assem-blies are instruments created to give effect to the democratic content of people governing themselves. Political parties are the medium through which representatives are elected. It stands to reason that after the election, the implementation of the principles and policies continue or should continue to govern the programme. That is of course text-book teaching; but how close are these sound principles to the (…)

by RAZIA ISMAIL
India’s decision-makers seem to find it difficult to see that there are children in the country. Being unable to see them, they are unable to perceive that they are hungry. In an age when we are able to use euphemisms like ‘under-nutrition’, this is perhaps not surprising. But it is disgraceful none the less.
This country has a large population of children. Fortyone per cent of its total numbers. The national leadership has been unable to recognise them for what they are: (…)

by ADFAR RASHID SHAH and FAYAZ AHMAD BHAT
The ten-month-long Syrian unrest against President Bashar al-Assad, one more increment to the Arab Spring, has assumed the shape of unending mass demonstrations but simultaneously it is a paradox especially for the non-Arab Muslim world and political analysts as well. On the one hand the people are shouting for more free expression, development and revival of human rights concern but on the other the Syrian uprising is looked at through different (…)

[This article reached us a bit late. It is being used here as its contents still retain their validity.]
With the “Friends of Syria” (FOS) grouping sponsored by the Western powers and their Arab allies scheduled to hold its first meeting in Tunis on Friday (February 24), Russian diplomacy has shifted gear into a proactive mode. The Kremlin was a beehive of diplomatic activity on Wednesday (February 22).
The venue of the birthplace of the “Arab Spring” for the FOS to gather might, prima (…)

by ZAHIDA ZAIDI
The 101st birth anniversary of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of our subcontinent’s best Urdu poets, was observed last month. He was born in Sialkot on February 13, 1911, and passed away in Lahore in November 1984. Remembering him we are reproducing the following article that was included in the author’s Glimpses of Urdu Literature.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) is, without doubt, the most famous and popular poer of his generation and of the Progressive Writers’ Movement. But he is (…)

by ATHER FAROUQUI
The author has sent the following article explaining the background of its evolution that reads: “This article in its present form has evolved out of a previous one published in EPW (May 7-13, 2011) as Commentary and an even earlier opinion piece that appeared in The Times of India (July 28, 2008). While updating the present article I undertook further research in this field by taking into account a wide range of literature that has been published on the subject as well (…)

COMMUNICATION
Apropos Mr Hasan Zaheer’s letter in Mainstream [Volume L, No 8, February 11, 2011], I must say that he has brought a very fine writer, Mr Ather Farouqui, into sharp focus through his critical appreciation. I must add that Mr Farouqui’s understanding of Marxist ideology and, more importantly, his version about its application in the Marxist perspective is without parallel when it comes to contemporary South Asia. It reminds us about the first and second generation Communists, (…)

COMMUNICATION
Mr Ather Farouqui’s article in the annual issue of Mainstream ‘Indo-Pak Relationship: Companions of Paradoxical Syndrome’ is unique in many ways. He is the first to address the issue of Urdu and its relevance to the worsening relationship between India and Pakistan. Of special interest was his focus on the inactiveness of the Left parties, particularly on the issue of the stasis in the Progressive Writers’ Association (PWA), which has become just a forum for socialites, with (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
The sensational criminal case that has come up in Bombay focussing on an alleged plot to kill Nusli Wadia and implicating in it an Ambani close to Dhirubhai and some of the underworld mafia, has serious political implications which are being lost sight of in the excitement that the case itself has evoked.
There is the danger of complacency in treating it as just the facet of a long-standing civil war between two corporate giants, Reliance under the Ambanis, and (…)

We strongly deplore the PM’s recent statement that the people’s struggle against Kudankulam nuclear power plant is instigated by foreign agencies and funds. We cannot accept our PM to stoop to such low levels.
This allegation is a clear hint from him that the Indian people who could think on their own to elect the Congress-led UPA in the last general election, have suddenly lost the capacity to think ‘correctly’ about their safety and energy security. Eminent Indian intellectuals like (…)