2014

EDITORIAL
The results of the State Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra have doubtless highlighted the fact that the Modi wave, that ensured a spectacular outcome for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls (it won absolute majority on its own in the Lower House of Parliament, something on other party has been able to record in the past 25 years), was not on the wane, even if there was an optical illusion to that effect in the wake of the last by-election results. The BJP has increased its (…)

The defeat of the Congress in Haryana and Maharashtra in State elections does not come as a surprise. This was expected. Those who have followed the political developments since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections had inferred that the party was a story of the past. It had been battered by the charges of corruption so much and for so long that it had no public image left. The other parties, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are finding favour with the people.
Take Haryana. It never (…)

It is becoming clearer by the day that the Congress and BJP are the obverse and reverse of the same neo-liberal coin. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s latest statement that the identity of those Indians who have stashed away billions of dollars of black money in foreign banks, defrauding the people and the public exchequer, cannot be brought back because of legal difficulties only confirms it. It needs to be remembered that black money was one of the key issues on which Modi, Jaitley and (…)

The Jan Dhan Yojana (People’s Wealth Plan)—an ambitious financial inclusion programe—was launched amid much fanfare in India on August 28, 2014. The initial target of the Jan Dhan Yojana is to cover 75 million unbanked households by January 26, 2015. The government claims that on the inaugural day, a record 15 million bank accounts were opened across the country under this initiative. Nowhere else in the world, such a large number of bank accounts have been opened on a single day. In less (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
This week, thirty years ago, the Chinese Army had mounted a full-scale military attack along the entire length of our northern border. For three years previous to that there were occasional clashes, accompanied by angry polemics and tension over border claims.
What happened on October 20 was entirely different in character. It was a massive aggression into territories beyond the lines claimed as the border by the Chinese themselves. In other words, what the Chinese (…)

The interactions between India and China are viewed with a very keen interest by the international community. The domestic politics and leadership transitions in these countries are also events of great interest for the world. India and China both have witnessed leadership changes in the last two years. Both the respective leaders—Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President, Xi Jinping—are trying to formulate their respect foreign policy agenda’s and directions. Both these leaders (…)

Afghanistan has witnessed two major events in the most recent weeks. One is the assumption of office by Ashraf Ghani as the next President of the country, succeeding Hamid Karzai. The second has been the signing of the two “back-to-back” security pacts between Afghanistan on the one hand and the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation [NATO] on the other.
Both developments are of historical importance in their own ways. Ghani’s presidency signifies a rare peaceful (…)

by Arun Srivastava
The secular alliance of the RJD, JD(U) and Congress no doubt has checkmated the BJP’s juggernaut in Bihar and managed to send a strong message to Narendra Modi that his efforts to work out a new kind of social engineering could not match the nuances of the Mandal philosophy and succeed in the existing socio-political condition. The superstructure of Modi’s social engineering was not based on some strong fundamentals. What is significant for Nitish’s secular alliance is (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Suddenly reality is catching up with Narendra Modi and India. We are learning that showmanship can go thus far and no further. The first hint came when the Chinese President’s visit coincided with stepped-up Chinese incursions in Ladakh. The message was that China’s Big Brother posture in Asia was not negotiable and all the Ahmedabad hoopla was just hoopla. Then, so soon after the Pakistani Prime Minister’s attendance at Modi’s swearing-in, a war-like crisis developed along the (…)

by Nirupam Hazra
The 2014 election results in the State of West Bengal clearly show the dominance of the ruling Trinamul Congress as it has won thirtyfour out of fortytwo seats. Its main Opposition, the Left Front, is reduced to only two seats while the Congress and BJP managed to get only four and two seats respectively. But a deeper analysis of the result points towards a changing power equation in the political landscape of Bengal.
The electoral battle in Bengal has been mostly a (…)