2013

In an impressive seminar a noted Dalit columnist of The Pioneer, Chandra Bhan Prasad, had once said some years ago in Delhi that the Britishers “came too late to India and left too early”. India would not have been a modern state today with inclusion of all communities if the Britishers had not invaded the country with their language and culture was his argument. Without mincing words, he had asserted that the lives and cultures of the subaltern communities had no place as long as the (…)

IMPRESSIONS
In our preoccupation with petty politics—like history’s most pointless Cabinet reshuffle—we fail to notice the significance of some breakthrough developments around us. How many of us notice that Istanbul is not Cairo, or that Britain has done something astonishing by admitting that it used torture as policy in at least one of its colonies?
The citizens’ protest in Turkey is nothing at all like the Arab Spring in Egypt which, ultimately, helped only the resurgence of (…)

I do believe this debate being carried on in the columns of Mainstream is very important given the setback in peoples’ movements worldwide and also in the socialist states. I will try and add my views to this. But I shall seek to posit the issue in the light of these reversale.
I read Anil Rajimwale’s (AR) article (“’Consciousness from Outside’ Debate: Certain Points”, Mainstream, June 22, 2013) with much interest. Unfortunately most of the other articles mentioned did not reach me in (…)

The landmark Bill on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement 2013 brings an end to the era of forced land acquisition. It has replaced the 120-year-old unjust Land Acquisition Act 1894. Integrating land acquisition with rehabilitation and resettle-ment (R & R) and bringing transparency in the process of acquisition, compensation, and rehabilitation as a matter of right is a historic step. It was important to have a law to (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Emergency Retold by Kuldip Nayar; Konark Publishers, New Delhi, Seattle; first published: 1977; paperback edition: 2013, pages: 320.
Emergency Retold is a new edition of a book on the Emergency by the distinguished journalist and human rights activist, Kuldip Nayar. The book published by Konark Publications was released on June 26, the 38th anniversary of the Emergency, to an audience of journalists, authors and democratic rights activists at New Delhi’s India International (…)

The highly opportunistic stance taken by the “big powers” who are veto-holding permanent members of the United Nations Security Council has prevented that august body from articulating an outright condemnation of the brutality with which the Egyptian military massacred more than 1000 civilians in Cairo on August 21.
This must be counted as one of the most shameful moments that the UN Security Council has been put through in its sad history of over six decades. The fault lies entirely at (…)

MUSINGS
I was born in Uttar Pradesh and spent my childhood and those carefree teenaged years in that State. I have travelled to those remote villages and locales because my father, an engineer by profession, would be particular that the family—amma and my siblings and I—tagged along travelling in that open jeep or in our Baby Hindustan car. And during those long summer vacations my maternal grandfather would take out his Dodge from the garage … my cousins and I sitting stuffed (…)

COMMUNICATION
Due to the highly unjust policies of the authorities relating to the Indira Sagar Dam Project (ISDP), the displaced and adversely affected people have been forced to start jal satyagraha from September 1. These peaceful protestors standing in deep water are demanding justice but the authorities arrested several of them including leading activist Chittaroopa Palit and 75 other satyagrahis.
The ISDP involves truly massive displacement. This largest reservoir in India (second (…)

EDITORIAL
As the West Asian crisis takes a new turn with strong indications that President Obama may launch strikes on Syria after securing the green signal from the US Congress, the fallout of such an eventuality has been invoked by the PM to urge the BJP leaders to end their animosity towards the government and allow Parliament to pass key pending Bills. The BJP leaders appear to have responded positively to the PM’s suggestion as is evident from their attitude to the pension Bill—after (…)

The threat of imminent war hangs over the entire Middle East. This is bound to have unforeseen consequences in many parts of the world. The US President, Barack Obama, has announced that he is willing to order a solo armed intervention in Syria. Meanwhile the US will strive for a ”coalition of the willing”.
The French and British had raced to announce an attack. But the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, was stopped in his track by the House of Commons, which roundly rejected his war- (…)