2013

TRIBUTE
by Panchanan Chattopadhyay
Eminent historian Barun De passed away in Kolkata on July 16 at the age of 81. I never saw him write or refer to himself as ‘Dr’ Barun De. He was known as a historian and professor. He was a good speaker, a good writer and a good teacher. He had profound erudition, a creative mind and a heart full of sympathy for his students. He was a gentleman to the core— courteous and polite. He was an elite but never thought so of himself.
When the Centre for (…)

With less than a year for Lok Sabha elections and only a few months left for Delhi State Assembly elections, politics and party dynamics have accelerated and soon would be in full momentum as soon the campaign begins. There are many ifs and buts related to seen and unforeseen consequences of who wins and who does not. Campaigning in India usually looks more like a drama to woo voters rather than a serious effort to sensitise the masses about the real issues. Once the campaign starts one will (…)

What are the Implications of the Imperial Pivot?
There is a new definition of the Asia-Pacific reflecting the expanded stretch of the imperial territory: The Strategic Guidance document maps the region as “the arc extending from Western Pacific and East Asia into the Indian Ocean region and South Asia”. In her Foreign Policy article “America’s Pacific Century” (November 2011), the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, defined the Asia-Pacific as “stretching from the Indian subcontinent (…)

by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey
Engulfed in scams and in the midst of a growing credibility deficit of the political establishment, the government’s move to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act to keep political parties out of its ambit is most unfortunate and injudicious. This step will deepen the chasm between the political system and the people. It is especially unwise at this juncture as it’s another setback to expectations of responsible and fair governance.
The dilemma lies in the (…)

TRIBUTE
Rangaswami Krishnamurti, a renowned international civil servant who had his longest innings of service with the UNCTAD, expired at the age of 95 on July 18, 2013, in Columbus (USA). He leaves behind his wife (Meenakshi), daughter (Indira), two sons (Raju and Mahesh) and six grandchildren. Two of his grand-daughters work in the UN system, representing a continuation of Krishna’s abiding faith in multilateralism under the United Nations as the harbinger of world peace and prosperity. (…)

by Sadhan Mukherjee
Our national policy is to help educate India’s youth deprived of higher education but it begs to be fulfilled. The Distance Education (DE) mode is a way out, but it is currently under threat. Why?
It cannot be overstated that shortsighted bureaucrats and vested interests are thwarting the DE efforts. There is hardly any public outcry as many people are still not aware of this form of education. If at all, they perceive it akin to a correspondence course (CC). The (…)

As expected, rural Bengal has given a massive mandate for the Trinamul Congress in the panchayat polls. The ruling party has captured 13 of the 17 Zilla Parishads, the Left Front one (Jalpaiguri) and the Congress one (Murshidabad). In two districts, Maldah and North Dinajpur, no party has won a clear majority. Compare this with the results of the previous (2008) polls and the sea-change will leap to your eyes: Left Front 13 Zilla Parishads, Congress two and TMC two. The table has now been (…)

by Nabanipa Bhattacharjee
With the population close to 30 per cent as per the 2001 census and the provisional total of the 2011 census, the Bangla-speakers are the largest linguistic minority in Assam. A subs-tantial number of that, both Hindu and Muslim, is concentrated in southern Assam which is also popularly known by the epithet Barak Valley to represent the three districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi. In addition to the Bangla-speakers, the Barak Valley is also home to other (…)

‘We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life. [. . .] On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. [...] We must remove this (…)

TRIBUTE
Professor Oleg Vasilyevich Malyarov, the eminent Indologist and a multifaceted personality, unexpectedly passed away on the very day of Easter in his village house in Russia’s Novgorod district. In his demise while India lost a sincere friend, Russia lost a great patriot, a leading Marxist scholar, a brilliant economist and a valiant fighter for social justice. Malyarov, born in Vladivostok, had received his higher education from the prestigious Economics Faculty of the world (…)