2013

For the first time through the two-year old Syrian conflict, the United States has mentioned the holy cow—“boots on the ground’’. The Secretary of State, John Kerry, has pleaded that the US Congress should approve the use of American ground troops although the Obama Administration may not intend to take recourse to such action.
This is a hugely significant turning-point in the fast-developing scenario of US military intervention in Syria. There was added poignancy that Kerry was speaking (…)

P.N. Haksar’s birth centenary fell on September 4 this year. It was marked by a meeting at the Auditorium of New Delhi’s Nehru Memorial Musuem and Libary on the same day, organised by the Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and Haksar’s elder daughter, Nandita. When Haksar passed away in the Capital on November 27, 1998, it was written in this journal’s December 5, 1998 issue:
“Parmeshwar Narain Haksar (September 4, 1913-November 27, 1998), eminent administrator and (…)

In the citation which the Vice-Chancellor has just read out, some flattering things have been said about me. I was rather pleased hearing it all. At the same time doubts began assailing me. I asked myself: What led the University of Kashmir to honour me? Was it because by accident of birth I am classified as a Kashmiri Pandit? But there are many such Pandits. And there are quite a few who are, if anything, more distinguished than I am. So being a Kashmiri Pandit could not be the real (…)

I have always thought of Parmeshwar Narain Haksar as Papa; a father I loved deeply and whose views influenced me in many ways even though we spent so much time arguing and disagreeing on many basic tenets of his Nehruvian beliefs.
We had arguments about the feasibility of big dams, the need to recognise ethnic nationalities as minorities and the question of religion and caste.
On my father’s 100th birth anniversary I would like to share some of the most precious memories of times (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Three landmarks to cover in a single day—that was how some of us spent our fiftieth Independence Day.
The first of the pilgrimage was to the Indo-Pak border post at Wagah to celebrate the anniversary of the freedom at midnight.
Reaching Amritsar by the Shatabdi Express in the late evening of August 14, about a dozen of us led by the President of the Citizens for Democracy, Kuldip Nayar, we were received by a huge crowd at the Amritsar station itself—which included (…)

TRIBUTE
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” —Albert Einstein
Words have an uncanny ability of impinging on the receiver with clinical detachment. It is upto the receiver to unpack them or try to derive meaning out of them. It is still difficult to get over the sense of grief and shock one experienced when one received the news of the assasination of the renowned rationalist, Dr Narendra (…)

How does one explain the widespread trepidation that prevails in many countries over the fast-approaching date (end-2014) for the withdrawal of the NATO troops and Inter-national Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Afghanistan? Principally, it is Afghanistan and regional countries, such as, Iran, India, Pakistan, the Central Asian Republics, China and Russia which are visibly perturbed over the probable consequences of the intended withdrawal of the foreign forces from direct ground-level (…)

The sparking of chaos and protests across the country with the announcement to divide Andhra Pradesh is not surprising. Protests in the streets of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema region against the division, and reassertions of the long pending demand for separate States in Assam and West Bengal, were expected.1 The last few decades have experienced several such social turmoils, many a time resulting in violence.
While both the ruling and the opposition political parties (at the Centre, (…)

TRIBUTE
by Bishwajit Sen
The murder of Comrade Bindeshwari Sah on August 7 last, marked a definite turn in the Maoist politics of Bihar. It exposed a Maoist-police-landlord nexus which had been existing since a long time but had not been exposed as yet. But now with the land struggle reaching a qualitatively new stage, the hidden secrets of the ruling class are coming out the into the open. The pro-people and anti-people forces are positioning themselves for a decisive combat. (…)

The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is at the apex to run the country’s administration. It replaced the Indian Civil Service (ICS) which was an instrument in the hands of the British to rule over India. After independence, there was serious thinking whether there should be an all-India service at all. The States wanted persons from their own area to administer.
But, then Home Minister Sardar Patel was particular to have an all-India service to articulate the feeling of unity and to (…)