2013

I have made nearly 200 trips, if not more, to Pakistan ever since I left Sialkot, my birthplace, way back in 1947 during partition. On each of my visits to that country, I have always admired the people’s forbearance and endurance despite several situations that had jinxed them since the country came into being 66 years ago. It has faced a long ordeal of difficulties with very little respite. Yet the people’s eyes have remained fixed on a democratic set-up that will not only give them (…)

by Vahidha Nizam
May Day is the symbol of the struggle of the international proletariat for its emancipation. It is indissolubly bound up with the political significance of the working class’ demand for shorter workday. Although apparently the upsurge was in demand of eight-hour work and increased wages, in its content and idea the struggle was violently against the wickedly exploitative system of capitalism.
It will be political naiveté to believe that the May Day Martyrs—August Spies, (…)

by Anil Kumar Mohapatra
‘Many meanings’ have been associated with the ‘First of May’ of which one that has received wide acceptance is that it reminds us of the importance of the ‘working class’ to our society. Therefore, in many countries, May 1 is observed as ‘May Day’ or ‘International Workers’ Day’. In many countries the day is an official government holiday marked by meetings and street demonstrations to highlight the cause of the working class.
Its commemoration dates back to the (…)

The celebration of 100 years of Bollywood needs to be reviewed from a subaltern perspective. The general assumption that cinema is a normal mode to produce anecdotes to satisfy the entertainment quotient of the people should go through a critical scrutiny. Films as artistic expression cannot be devoid of their politico-ideological objectives. Hence, from a Dalit perspective when one enquires about their space during the past one century of the film world, only a handful of non-decrepit, (…)

by Bidyut Mohanty and Bijayalaxmi Nanda
Introduction
In a patriarchal society like India, the dominant ideology has been to devalue women in economic, social or political institutions. The normative value systems give sanctions to such guiding principles through socialisation, rituals, narration of epics, etc. Within the categories of women, the girl child and women having only a girl child and widows get raw deals. The behaviour of parents/in-laws or other blood relatives indicate that (…)

by Nilima Chandiramani
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Work-place [Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal] Bill, 2012 was passed by the Lok Sabha on September 3, 2012. It emanated from the Supreme Court Guidelines laid down in Vishaka’s case of 1997.
Sexual harassment at workplace is not just a personal injury to the woman but it violates her fundamental right to equality and right to life and to live with dignity. These rights are universally recognised as Human Rights by (…)

COMMUNICATION
A.K. Biswas is the only well-known person from elitist West Bengal, who is fighting for the SCs, STs and lowly OBCs. His paper ‘Is India the Most Dangerous Place for Dalit Women?’ in Mainstream, February 9, 2013, furnishes harrowing tales of caste oppressions of SC and ST women and he does not fail to note that the irresistibility of these atrocities lies in the caste and land might of the oppressors.
On October 27, 2012 The New York Times broke the news,
....Dabra, the (…)

by Sudhanshu Tripathi
Swami Vivekananda endeavoured throughout his life to see God face to face and for this end he got the blessings of his guru, Swami Ramkrishnaparam-hans.Although apparently an iconoclast in the early years prior to coming into contact with his guru, he was reformist to the core of his heart always craving for welfare of the downtrodden and hapless humanity since the very beginning. He progressed well with his missionary devotion of spiritual perfection as well as (…)

The last few days’ developments have caused serious concern in the country as a whole at one level while shocking the citizens’ conscience and psyche at another. In such a situation one is left wondering whether the post-independence project of building a modern democratic nation-state has turned into an exercise in futility.
Precisely four months after the horrific gangrape of a 23-year-old young woman in a moving bus in the Capital city engendered spontaneous, unfor-eseen protests in (…)

IMPRESSIONS
From every nook of India these days, we hear one question: Will anything come out of all this? It is actually more than a question. It is a cry from the heart. An anguished people, filled with anger and disgust and helplessness over the Delhi rape horror, are asking whether their collective sobbing will bear any fruit. Never since 1947 has a crime aroused such passions as this one. But where are the answers?
By now we know that the luckless girl in Delhi was not merely (…)