2013

A Dalit (untouchable) was killed. His house was destroyed and his family, including a 10-year-old, was thrown out. The upper-caste members did not like his audacity to hoist the national flag on the Independence Day at a disputed property which they had appropriated forcibly.
Discrimination is the bane of India where the caste-prejudiced Hindus constitute 80 per cent of the population. The story of this Dalit came to light because one TV channel highlighted it. Otherwise, thousands of (…)

Our economy is under pressure for the last three months. The rupee has been falling though the fall has been temporarily arrested for some time. Inflation shows no signs of reducing. And, the common man is restive as seen in the Chhattisgarh massacre. Yet, the weak condition of the economy should not prevent us from taking steps to ameliorate the conditions of the poor. I welcome the Food Security Act for this reason. The problem, however, is that this effort will be sustainable only if the (…)

IMPRESSIONS
It is too late in the day for Rahul Gandhi to act as though he is unaware of the major policy initiatives in his party. If he did not know about the Congress-led Ordinance to protect the criminally-tainted MPs, he was an unworthy Vice-President of the party. If he knew about the deliberations that led to the Ordinance and still proclaimed that it should be torn up, then he was playing games. What games? The people of the country were outraged by the Ordinance that belittled the (…)

On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s one hundred and fortyfourth birth anniversary on October 2, 2013, we are reproducing the following excerpts from his writings and pronouncements.
Gandhi for Today
Soldiers drunk with the pride of physical strength loot shops and are not even ashamed to take liberties with women. The administration is powerless in the war time to prevent such happenings. The army fulfils their primary need, and they wink the eyes at their misdeeds...
Hence arise (…)

There is an old maxim that says: “Do not judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.” It means one should be judged through one’s capacity of suffering. Suffering prepares us to be compassionate to others. Suffering contains a particle of truth. Suffering enhances our ability to pray effectively. Praying is an instinctive human response to severe hardship. But effective prayer is a learned exercise. A song suggests: Pray when you are happy, pray when in sorrow. One should pray (…)

As violence related distress and tensions escalate to alarming levels, Mahatma Gandhi’s enduring message of peace and non-violence is becoming more and more relevant. The costs of violence are most widely seen in the context of various war/conflict situations and acts of terrorism. There is no doubt that these problems are extremely serious. Much more so in terms of weapons of mass destruction, but no less serious is the silent distress caused by violence in everyday, routine life. Partly (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following is the text of the Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture 1995 delivered by Nikhil Chakravartty in New Delhi on January 30, 1995. It first appeared in Mainstream (October 3, 1998) after N.C.’s demise. I am deeply touched by having been asked to deliver this year’s Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture. Nobody is more conscious than I am about my inadequacy in speaking on this sacred occasion, the day of the martyrdom of the greatest son of my country. Perhaps my only (…)

by E.S. Reddy
The Satyagraha in South Africa, led by Gandhi a century ago, owes its success, in large measure, to the sacrifice and leadership of Thambi Naidoo and to the “silent suffering” of Mrs Kasturba Gandhi. Their contribution, however, has received little recognition in the writings on the satyagraha. The satyagraha was confined to the Transvaal from 1906 when the Indian community pledged to defy the humiliating Asiatic Ordinance until it was suspended on May 20, 1911, when Gandhi (…)

COMMUNICATION
When Nature’s laws are flouted and Ecology Illiterates rule the roost, man-made disasters are bound to happen.
The notification by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, dated December 18, 2012, correctly stated that the 135 km stretch from Goumukh to Uttarkashi is an eco-sensitive area. Its implication was that the series of hydro-electric projects planned along the river Bhagirathi needed to be abandoned and the construction of hotels and resorts needed to be (…)

Bhagat Singh’s 106th birth anniversary took place on September 28 this year. To mark the occasion we are reproducing the following article which appeared in Mainstream (April 4, 1981).
Bhagat Singh was born in Punjab on September 28, 1907, and was hanged by the British on March 23, 1931. So it may be said that in his short life-span of 24 years political activities covered at the most a period of seven to eight years. The young Indian revolutionary was sentenced to death before he could (…)