2013

Economics has played a significant role in the bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh. The economic relations between the two countries have been multifaceted, embracing trade transactions, credit arrange-ments, joint ventures, transit facilities and transport development. These relations have continued and expanded even in situations of adverse political relations. This is mainly because of the operation of objective factors like geographical proximity, common language, similarity (…)

by MAHENDRA P. LAMA
Energy security is emerging to be one of the most critical issues in the South Asia region. Disruption of power and other energy supplies can lead to serious crisis affecting both human (food, livelihood, employment and economy) and national security (environment, inter-national trade communications, transport and all other services). The inability to cater to the increasing industrial and other commercial needs have adversely affected their productive activities, (…)

The following lines were written by N.C. fortyone years ago after his first visit to Dacca (as it was than spelled) following the liberation of East Pakistan and emergence of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. These constituted the first of his three-part ‘Dacca Jottings’ in Mainstream (February 1972). These lines bring out the enormity of the crimes committed by the Pak Army in East Pakistan after its crackdown on March 26, 1971 (which is currently observed as Bangladesh’s National Day), and just before its final surrender on December 16, 1971 in particular.

by ABUL BARKAT
Abstract: The genesis of Islam reveals the liberal and humanistic origin of Islam in East Bengal. But this liberal-humanistic Islam has turned into “Political Islam” mainly due to three major regressive transformations associated with the emergence of the “religious doctrine-based Pakistan State” (in 1947), failure to punish the ‘war criminals’ (in the 1971 War of Independence), and legitimisation of commu-nalism by replacing ‘secularism’ with “Islam as state religion” in (…)

by SMRUTI S. PATTANAIK
More than forty years after the independence of Bangladesh, the war crimes trial has assumed newer significance. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), that was formed in 2009 after four decades of waiting, has now started to deliver its verdict after cross-examining the victims and their family members who suffered at the hands of their countrymen. It is believed that the conclusion of these long pending trials will help the nation advance towards a historic (…)

The following are two poems which were composed by leading figures in Bangladesh’s literary circles during the struggle for the country’s liberation in 1971. Shaheedulla Quaiser was killed by the anti-liberation forces just before Bangladesh’s independence in December that year. These were translated from the original Bengali by Pritish Nandy and included in a booklet published by Perspective Publications in June 1971.
Mother
She lived in a lonesome village,
All day she worked silently (…)

Late at night on March 11 the Italian Government refused to let the two marines (both Italian nationals)—accused of shooting and killing two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala on February 14, 2012 while sailing in the merchant ship Enrica Lexia—return to India. The marines were facing trial in this country for the killing of the fishermen and had been permitted by the Supreme Court of India to leave for their country to vote in the February 22 national elections there but only after (…)

The following is a press statement released at a press conference in Bhubaneswar on March 10, 2013.
A national-level fact-finding team consisting of civil liberties and democratic organisations and individuals visited Gobindapur and Dhinkia villages of Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha on March 9, 2013. The objective of the visit was to assess the situation in the wake of escalated violence since the land acquisition process resumed in the area on February 4, 2013. The stationing of armed (…)

by Sreekutty Mohandas
By diluting its major stake in many areas, Privatisation has become a charmed policy of the Indian state, the underlying assumption being that the pace of development cannot be accelerated without giving free hand to private players. A ‘liberal’ approach towards domestic players has given rise to neo-corporate entities in a span of a decade or more. There is no doubt that entrepreneurship needs moral support and legitimate encouragement. But that does not mean public (…)

Sanjoy Hazarika [Ref. 1] and Walter Fernandes [Ref. 2] bring out the justifiable opposition to the AFSPA felt by people from our North-Eastern States where it was first imposed in 1958. The provocation for both articles is P. Chidambaram (PC, hereinafter) stating on February 6, 2013, at the Institute of Defence Studies, that the govern-ment would like to make the AFSPA “more humanitarian”, but accusing the Army of being an obstacle to that proposal. Also both writers have focussed on rape (…)