2013

[(Sailendra Nath Ghosh, 90, one of the country’s earliest environmentalists and a social philosopher, passed away at his residence in New Delhi in the early hours of October 18, 2013. He is survived by his three daughters and grand-children, his wife having predecessed him four years ago. Born on April 19, 2013 in the village of Sapmara in the Diamond Harbour subdivision of what is now the South 24-Parganas district of West Bengal, he had a chequered life. The unjustness of society around (…)

[(Tribute to Narendra Sharma
Narendra Sharma, the leading labour correspondent of the country, passed away in Delhi on October 20 after a brief illness. He was 90. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. Sharma joined active politics while in college in Lahore and till the last, he worked for the cause of the common masses, especially the working class and the trade union movement. All the senior trade union leaders had personal rapport with him and he familiarised IPA to the (…)

IMPRESSIONS
This much is true: but for the media’s competitive derring-do we wouldn’t know how our politicians are plundering the country. But that blessing is accompanied by a curse. The media trivialises half the news and sensatio-nalises the other half. The result is mayhem. People at home mistake the selfish for heroes. People abroad think India is immature when it is not belligerent.
Issues that impinge on the quality of life and the fortunes of the country get little attention from (…)

TRIBUTE
The death of Govind Purushottam Deshpande (GoPu and GPD to his friends and fans) recently at Pune is an immense loss to academia the world over, Indian theatre and culture. With his death we have lost an intellectual and activist who was known for his intellectual inquisitiveness and debate/dialogue, the two genres becoming a rarity these days. It was a wonderful experience to read him, listen to his lectures (including class-lectures) and witness a play penned by him. The (…)

Some politicians in Europe, the US and countries of the Persian Gulf have concluded that the UN experts’ report about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, published on September 16, was evidence of the Syrian authorities having used sarin gas against civilians in the suburbs of Damascus. It is true, the experts have confirmed the fact that chemical weapons were indeed used in the country but they didn’t reach any definite conclusion about the origin of the payloads. The payloads could have (…)

EDITORIAL
The registering of an FIR against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and his group of companies, Hindalco, by the CBI on October 15 for alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks has really sent shockwaves across the corporate world. It has once again put the spotlight on Dr Manmohan Singh as erstwhile Coal Secretary P.C Parakh, also placed in the same category as Birla, has alleged that the allocation, having been approved by the PM, the CBI should have made him (…)

This article was written before the shutdown of the US Government ended after senior lawmakers of the country worked through the night on October 15 to reach a deal (to extend the US borrowing authority till February 7, 2014) to avert a debt default that could have had catastrophic consequences for the global economy.
by Krishnakumar S.
The Republicans have stalled the clearance of the demand for grants for the Federal government, alleging fiscal profligacy engendered by the government (…)

After completing the tortuous process of anointing Narendra Modi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate the BJP has launched a campaign blitz to build a larger-than-life image of Narendra Modi. The process inside the BJP itself required the strong-arm tactics of the RSS to make all the opponents and dissidents fall in line. They were told to keep their thoughts to themselves but keep their mouths shut. Even the veteran L.K. Advani was put in his place.
All sorts of qualities and (…)

In his reply to my letter, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said: “I look forward to a time when Pakistan and India will be able to shed the debilitating baggage of the past and focus more on the future, when opportunities, rather than challenges, define the relationship between two proud and sovereign nations.” His meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is an evidence of his ardent desire to make up with India.
Hostility between India and Pakistan is so proverbial that any movement (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The Joint Parliamentary Committee probing into the securities seam has inevitably to extend its protracted labours. The star character in the securities scandal, Harshad Mehta, having gone back on his previous position and publicly levelled a serious allegation of having paid the Prime Minister Rs 1 crore and have secured benefits in consequence, there was no escape for the JPC from brushing aside this latest development.
What has been entrusted to the JPC by (…)