2014

MUSINGS
After hijacking the good old broom from Arvind Kejriwal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to go on this latest publicity move. Dragging to the fore, several relevant queries. Can the masses be fooled by these symbolic moves? Can the masses not see through these ‘image-building’ exercises at work? Can the masses not see those dried blood stains of the murdered, on the streets and courtyards and verandahs of Ahmedabad? Can the masses not see those murder-accused riding high on (…)

IMPRESSIONS
So it’s out in the open: Terrorism is the issue of our times. It was a central theme in Narendra Modi’s discussion with Israel’s Netanyahu, a veteran on the subject. It was the main focus of attention during the Modi-Obama talks. The US President went to the extent of agreeing to make efforts to dismantle safe havens for terror and to disrupt financial and tactical support to terror outfits, naming some based in Pakistan.
Honourable intentions. If even half of it became real, (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Summit meetings are not boxing rings which the public watch to cheer or boo at the players punching at each other. Most of the summits are meant for serious business either to thrash out differences or haggle over a coveted prize.
Judging by this criterion, the Prime Minister of India’s summit with the President of the USA at Washington (May 19, 1994) could be regarded as useful as they noted in clear terms the points of difference on some of the major issues not so (…)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US was, in more ways than one, a success. He may not have brought with him anything tangible from America but has created a climate of confidence and won back Washington which always looked at India with suspicion. Here is a person, who was denied a US visa, and yet was able to shame the US Administration with speeches of friendship with America.
Modi was able to formulate a joint statement with President Barack Obama that goes farther than what (…)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to the United States has been one long reality TV show for Indian news channels. It was not just the PM, who is said to have consumed only hot water through the trip, who contributed to the show. All other trappings of reality TV were present. Indian-American crowds heckling a senior journalist, the journalist losing his cool and heckling them back thus ensuing fisticuffs, well-educated chatterrati justifying it all, an industrialist saying that the PM (…)

Gaza is a 41-kilometre (25 miles) long and six-to-10-kilometre wide prison containing 1.8 million Palestinians held for years by Israel to the east and by Egypt to the west. They are not allowed to get out even to save their lives, as was seen during the 51-day July-August Israeli bombardment and attack, in which 2100 of them were killed, one-fifth children. I had visited Gaza half-a-century ago when Indian soldiers were posted there as part of a United Nations force (UNIFIL).
Though the (…)

by Emma-Jayne Orser-Kooistra
One facet of democracy is the power of citizens to control what a state can and cannot do, both domestically and abroad. The corporatisation of war and conflict severely undermines democracy and state sovereignty and puts power in the hands of multinational corporations (MNCs) that have little accounta-bility for their actions. MNCs that work within the private security sector are known as Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). For the purpose of this (…)

by V. C. Bhutani
The economic discussions between Xi and Modi and the $ 20 billion Chinese forthcoming investment in Indian infrastructure and other projects naturally and rightly received a lot of appreciation and attention in India. Several analysts have said that India should work to attract investment from the USA and other Western countries too, in addition to investment from Japan and China. Modi has an opportunity to set the country on an upward economic trajectory by working (…)

WOMEN‘S WORLD
Background: Need for Food Security
The Indian state has the responsibility of raising ‘the level of nutrition and standard of living and to improve the public health’1 in terms of Article 47 of the Directive Principles of State Policy. But, in spite of having a relatively high growth rate of the economy in recent years, India’s performance in eradicating hunger and malnutrition is quite dismal compared to even the Sub-Shaharan region of Africa. In the Sub-Sahara region, the (…)

by Mahi Pal
The worst calamity that took place in Kashmir has warned us of the need to take into account the future possibilities of such kind of disasters seriously. It has become even more important when climate change has become a living reality. India is vulnerable to a number of natural as well as man-made disasters on account of its unique climate and socio-economic conditions. It is highly vulnerable to floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches and forest (…)