2014

by Pranjit Agarwala
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala (1903-1951) is revered as the cultural guru of Assam. He brought about a renaissance in Assamese literature and culture which helped establish its own identity as a separate language and not as an off-shoot of the Bengali language and culture. In 1935 he pioneered the Assamese film industry by making the first Assamese film Joymoti. His dramas, poems, short stories, journalistic writings, songs and music have inspired generations not only in Assam (…)

India’s independence or the migration of Hindus and Muslims on the basis of religion is as old as fiftyseven years. I remember leaving my home in Sialkot city on August 14 itself because the new state of Pakistan did not enter-tain non-Muslims, just as East Punjab did not want any Muslim in their midst. I heard Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous ‘tryst’ speech in Pakistan itself at my home town, Sialkot.
However, I crossed the border only on September 17, thirtytwo days after independence. By then, (…)

by Sangeeta Thapliyal
India’s relations with Nepal got a new fillip with Prime Minister Modi’s visit on August 3, this month. Modi’s popularity had cut across party lines in Nepal. He reached out to the common man. ‘Mayavi Modi’,‘Modimay Nepal’ were the expressions used by media to describe this phenomenon.
There was a media hype in both India and Nepal that an Indian Prime Minister was visiting Nepal after a gap of 17 years. The last 17 years in Nepal had seen political instability due (…)

COMMUNICATION
Supreme Court judge A.R. Dave opines that children imbibing Ramayana and Mahabharata and reverting to the guru-shishya parampara will make society less violent. This is disputable, besides possibly violating the secular character of India.
But the learned judge saying, ”Had I been the dictator of India, I would have...” betrays a deplorable lack of the democratic spirit enshrined in the Constitution. Perhaps he has forgotten that he has sworn to ”bear true faith and (…)

EDITORIAL
On August 1, US Secretary of State John Kerry called on PM Narendra Modi in the Capital and pointed out that the failure to clinch the trade facilitation deal at WTO “undermines” the NDA Government’s pro-business image. In reply the PM underlined that his first responsibility was to the “poorest of the country”. Thereafter he elaborated:
I am more concerned about the small Indian farmer... The needs of those living on the margins of society not just in India but elsewhere too, (…)

India’s forthright, unambiguous statement in the UN forums identifying itself with the anguish and anger of the world community over Israel’s war crimes in Gaza has evoked a range of strange responses in the country. Those who ought to have warmly commended the Narendra Modi Government—the Congress party, Left parties, Indian Union Muslim League [IUML] and Samajwadi Party—have ducked, while the Friends of Israel [FOI] cry murder.
Ironically, both constituencies face a predicament. For the (…)

Amit Shah is a new word in the Sangh Parivar jargon. It means loyalty. Shah is, without any doubt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Man Friday. But what differentiates him from others is the blind faith he has in his master, Modi. Amit Shah was given the task to polarise the biggest State of Uttar Pradesh. He won the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 71 seats out of 80 in the Lok Sabha in the recent elections.
Modi has now put Shah at the head of the BJP to spread the same divisive ideas, (…)

by Anil Chamadia
MEDIA
The Indian Express, the leading English language daily, published a news report on the front page of its June 30, 2014 issue with the following heading, “Delhi’s RTI ‘terrorist’ hunting victims on a bike, with cameramen in tow”. Shalini Narayan in her report has described a man’s torturous behaviour with people around him. The man, one Anil Dutt Sharma, has been termed as an anti-social and a ‘terrorist’. The reporter lists a number of cases wherein Sharma is (…)

The recent visit of French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to India may not have resulted in clinching of the Rafale jet deal which is being negotiated since January 2012 but it surely is an important step in enhanced bilateral partnership between the two countries. If the agreement materialises in the future the induction of Rafale fighter jets is expected to bolster the ‘air dominance’ doctrine of the Indian Air Force. The deal involves technology-sharing and the production of most of the (…)

Sometime ago, I visited several villages and towns in the neighbouring districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka to meet people of Goan origin settled there. During the 16th and 17th centuries thousands of Goans, both Hindus and Christians, left Goa to escape religious and cultural persecution. In Goa, during that period, all possible obstacles were imposed on the practice of the local religions. Moreover, converts to Christianity could not easily change their deep-rooted Indian way of life. (…)