2012

Bengal has produced a galaxy of prophets, poets, philosophers and patriots who, by their rare intellect, devotion and dedication for their motherland and compassion for humanity, have made India proud. One amongst them is Narendranath Dutta, whom we all know as Swami Vivekananda. He was born on January 12, 1863 and died on July 4, 1902, at the age of 39 years, five months and 24 days. In such a short span of life, he immensely contributed to rousing Indians not only against the foreign rule (…)

Tradition and modernity are supposed to be contraries: the former is seen as upholder of the existing order and inimical to all progress; the latter conducive to change thus leading to a more just and humane social order. The former is conservative, the latter progressive. The Hindu tradition, for instance, is supposed to be the upholder of the caste system—Manuvadi as the contemporary political lexicon has it. But is it really so? If we have a dispassionate look at the past, we may be in (…)

The people are not always right, even though they usually are.
i. Socrates was sentenced to death in a direct democracy by popular vote in a popular jury. He was the greatest man Athens ever produced and was unquestionably one of the noblest men of all time.
ii. Similarly, the Treaty of Versailles was a link in the chain of events that led to the decline of the great civilisation of Europe, indeed its near-destruction. Yet that insane Treaty was made under pressure of public opinion in (…)

DOCUMENT
ALLAHABAD DECLARATION OF EIGHTH JOINT CONVENTION OF PIPFPD
The following is the Declaration adopted at the conclusion of the Eighth Joint Convention of Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) held in Allahabad (December 29-31, 2011). More than 190 delegates from Pakistan attended the Convention.
We, the delegates of the Eighth Joint Convention of the Pakistan ‘India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), held in Allahabad from December 29 to (…)

My purpose of this article is not to scratch the countless wounds, received since independence, nor to recite old grievances, but basically a fresh endeavour to achieve social justice in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and to make a new beginning.
Introduction
SOCIAL JUSTICE has many aspects including sharing power, due benefits for every social group in the development that the country is making, part-nership in governance and thus in the utilisation of its natural (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
[More than forty years ago N.C. wrote the following piece just before Bangladesh’s liberation from west Pakistan’s oppressive and exploitative yoke and it was published in Mainstream (December 18, 1971). Immediately after that country’s independence. We are reproducing it as it is of inestimable value in the present context.]
Professor Galbraith in his journal narrates an experience as the US Ambassador in this country: “One man asked if there were still a Dulles (…)

TRIBUTE On December 28, 2011 passed away in Kolkata veteran Marxist ideologue and noted CPI intellectual Professor Narahari Kaviraj, 95. He was born on February 17, 1917 at Nabadwip in West Bengal’s Nadia district in a family of scholars. He is survived by his only son, Sudipta, an internationally renowned scholar and political scientist, currently holding the departmental Chair at Columbia University’s Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department.
In his academic life (…)

by JAYAN P.A.
‘Jana Gana Mana’ is the national anthem of India. The national anthem was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress (INC) on December 27, 1911. But at that time it was sung under the title, Bharata Bidhata. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was officially adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the Indian national anthem on January 24, 1950. Now, India’s national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is celebrating its centenary.
This is truly a rare occasion for every Indian who (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Yadon Se Rachi Jatra: Bikalp Ki Talash by Puran Chandra Joshi; Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi; 2009; pages: 247; Rs 325.
This is a collection of essays by an eminent academic who narrates his political journey from the euphoric days of the 1940-50 period (when the Soviet Union was the beacon for those who believed in a socialist future), through the phases of disillusionment following the disclosures of Stalin’s atrocities, the hopes of renewal under Khrushchev and Gorbachev, (…)

by TAMANNA KHOSLA
Most democratic states in contemporary times are multicultural in nature. Multi-culturalism advocates the need for recognising cultural diversity and accordingly granting rights to cultural minorities. Thus living with difference has become the new age mantra. Feminists too have close affinity with the politics of difference and therefore empathise with multiculturalists. They have hence made claims for another oppressed section, that is, women. Multiculturalists and (…)