2013

This is another lengthy article Marxist-Maoist thinker Kobad Ghandy sent from Tihar Jail where he is still lodged; it was sent sometime ago but could not be used earlier on account of space constraints.
There is panic in the air—a crashing rupee, falling growth rates and a spiralling current account deficit (CAD)! Black Friday (August 16) reflected the nervousness all around with the stock exchange falling four per cent, rupee declining to an all-time low over Rs 62 to the dollar, and gold (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following lines, written by N.C. precisely twenty years ago, carry considerable relevance in the present scenario.
Reflections on GATT Debate
The storm over the government’s meek submission to the Dunkel Draft as now inscribed in the GATT has not really blown over. It has only subsided for the present. As per our Constitution, Parliament cannot prevent the government signing treaties, though ratification may be delayed for a very long time—or not ratified at (…)

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has repeatedly asked India to resume talks which had got snapped following the terrorists’ attack on Mumbai in November 2008. His brother, the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, has echoed the same sentiments during his visit to India’s Punjab a few days ago. His advice to both the countries was to engage in a dialogue to settle their issues since war is no longer an option.
India’s External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, too, has (…)

The Catholic Church is the largest denomination among Christian churches with a membership of more than 1.2 billion.1 Its membership is scattered across the globe with a large institutional presence. The Pope as the Head of the Catholic Church not only commands respect among the Catholics but is held in high esteem by people of other faiths as well. As a global leader, his message does influence educational and social institutions established by the church. These Catholic educational, (…)

The crisis in Greece, which began five years ago with its economy collapsing, is now reaching a stage where the spectre of a civil war is no longer a patently preposterous idea. In fact, as the political battle between neo-fascists and anti-fascists in the country grows fiercer day by day in the backdrop of a massive unemployment rate and high inflation, some predictions speak of the availability of a six-month grace period at the most before a conflagration erupts.
During his recent brief (…)

by R.G. Gidadhubli
Ukraine has been passing through the worst period of crisis in its post-Soviet history. Protests of unprecedented magnitude are taking place during the last few weeks unmindful of the cold winter at the Independence Square in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, and other cities by thousands of activists of civil society, students, younger generation and political leaders of Opposition parties against President Viktor Yanukovych since he refused to sign the agreement with the (…)

by Sudhanshu Tripathi
It is shameful for a country like America, which boasts of being a land of freedom and liberty with highly civilised cultural traditions ensuring endless opportunities to all talented and meritorious persons and, consequently, attracting them from all over the world since long, to act contrary to the courtesies being extended to all diplomats under the explicit rules of international law. The way senior Indian diplomat posted in New York, Ms Devyani Khobragade, was (…)

by Aditi Mukherjee
The much-discussed Tamil Nadu factor in Indo-Sri Lanka relations recently came to prominence once again in the wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision not to attend the last CHOGM summit in Colombo as intense pressure was put on the Government of India by the DMK and AIADMK, the two principal political parties of Tamil Nadu, in this regard. On an earlier occasion the State had put up staunch opposition to the training of Sri Lankan defence personnel in India. (…)

BOOK REVIEW
This review of Prof Stephen Cohen’s latest book appeared in a Pakistani peirodical, Newsline, last November. Since it was sent to us by the reviewer, a noted Pakistani intellectual, politician, and media-person, it is being reproducd here, with due acknowledgement, to get a Pakistani perspective of the issues under scrutiny for the benefot of our readers.
Shooting for a Century: Finding Answers to the India-Pakistan Conundrum by Stephen P. Cohen; published by Harper Collins, (…)

COMMUNICATION
A Letter from Central Prison, Nagpur
Booked u/s 13,20,39 UAPA: An Affidavit for Ouster of the Real Incumbent
The arrest (and interrogation) of as nondescript a journalist and marginal an activist as me, even if for the second time—this time after 10-11 days’ mauling of a distantly acquainted, handicapped JNU student and two, most innocuous, adivasi youth, hours before a third was picked up from yet another location— should not, I believe, have caused even so much as a (…)