2013

by Abhishek Kumar and Sreekutty Mohandas
The 1980s were a decade of memorable incidents for the world in general and India in particular. The efficiency of the market economy, propagated by Thatcher and Reagan, was receiving immense political popularity and around the same time Eugene Fama’s efficient market hypothesis received rave academic acceptance. Margaret Thatcher popularised the idea of TINA (There Is No Alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary (…)

by Saumitra Mohan
At a time when the Indian economy is in a tailspin with the rupee maintaining a sustained southward penchant to Newtonian forces, it is really quite disturbing and disconcerting to see some dormant Statehood movements rearing their heads in the wake of the recent decision to form a new Telangana State through division of the extant State of Andhra Pradesh. Such demands inter alia include demands for a separate State of Gorkhaland (comprising Darjeeling and the adjoining (…)

Apparently, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who okayed the creation of Telangana for formal decision by the Union Cabinet, did not anticipate angry reaction of the rest of Andhra, called Seemandhra. When there is blackout, no water supply, no transport, no fuel and powerless mobiles, the mood in Seemandhra is that of now or never.
The Centre could have gauged the sentiment by proceeding with what the Constitution says. It is laid down that the State Assembly should be consulted. True, in (…)

COMMUNICATION
At the time of writing this, Prof G.D. Aggarwal has completed 105 days of his indefinite fast to protect the Ganga river in the Himalyan region from indiscriminate construction of dams. Without necessarily agreeing with all that this venerable saint-cum-scientist (now called Swami Saanand) has said, his great commitment to checking indiscriminate construction of hydel projects on Ganga river in Himalayan region should be widely supported.
In this context I would also like (…)

Syria Russia’s proposal to bring Syrian chemical weapons under control has been supported by the international community and several countries precisely because it has been regarded as a viable alternative to the US’ military project. The implementation of this proposal would help avoid the spread of the conflict in West Asia—a scenario too horrendous to even imagine for most of the states which wholeheartedly oppose such an outcome so as to prevent it from becoming a reality. Russia’s (…)

COMMUNICATION
Mr Rajimwale (Mainstream April 27, 2013) claims that I have not responded to the points he has made in his criticism of my book on Nikita Khrushchev’s infamous “Secret Speech”.
I believe that I did reply to the points he made. But be that as it may, in this present reply I shall make a special effort to isolate and respond to every “point” Mr Rajimwale raises in his latest riposte.
I would like to make one thing clear: I am not “defending Stalin”. I am defending the (…)

EDITORIAL
Former Bihar CM, erstwhile Union Railway Minister and RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav has been sentenced to five years imprisonment and fined Rs 25 lakhs in the 17-year-old fodder scam case. Former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra has also been sentenced and fined in the same case, though his sentence is for four years. Their convictions in the case had come last Monday (on September 30). With yesterday’s judgment in the Special CBI court in Ranchi, Laloo has automatically ceased to be a (…)

One of the first things that came to mind when I read and heard about the recent violence in Muzaffarnagar was the many parallels with Gujarat in 2002. As I heard and read more, it became increasingly difficult to deny that history was repeating itself.
I was visited by a no longer young woman whom I had taught thirtyfive years ago. From the distance of central Canada she too had seen that the events of Muzaffarnagar were much like those of Gujarat 2002.
I showed her the announcement (…)

by BHASHA SINGH
The following is a reportage by a senior journalist after a visit to UP’s riot-stricken Muzaffarnagar.
‘Nobody burnt those houses.’ In a very dim light and highly surcharged environment they accept only 100 houses were burnt, but they don’t know who turned them into ashes. All Muslims of the village are on the run, but they exactly don’t know why. What happened on the dark day of September 7 and 8, nobody is ready to share, but they add it all happened suddenly and the (…)

As is often the case, the restrained acumen of the unassuming observer, rather than the bluff and bluster of the mover and shaker, is really winning the day in the subcontinent. A panelist on a public service broadcast station (Lok Sabha TV) was the first to point out that in today’s turning-point the subcontinent could emerge as the remedial exemplar. The thought could sound ambitious at a time when terror is returning on a global scale. Pakistan is on the easternmost periphery of the radar (…)