2014

Major changes are going to take place in India’s northwest. Most American and NATO troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by the year-end, leaving behind 8000 to 12,000, to “train, assist and advice” the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to fight the Taliban insurgents, under a security pact. The pact will be signed by the new Afghan President whose election has been postponed since June. It will take some months to negotiate the pact to retain Western forces in Afghanistan. The (…)

by I.A. Rehman
Civil society is once again facing the awkward question as to whether it must always support an elected civilian government, regardless of its performance, to avoid the collapse of the democratic system.
The exertions of ambitious pretenders to the throne apart, the people are getting quite uneasy about the way the state is being managed. The large-scale lawlessness and threats to the life and liberty of citizens, poverty, and discrimination against the underprivileged are (…)

As Islamic jihadists in the arc comprising West Asia, northern Africa, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan grow more resourceful and aggressive, the inherent threat to the stability of the Pakistan state has eventually forced the military and political establishment in the country to acknowledge the harsh reality.
Operation Zarb-e-Azb (the strike of the Prophet’s sword), launched on June 15 by the armed forces in North Waziristan, that is born of this belated acknowledgement, draws its (…)

IMPRESSIONS
The Prime Minister complains that he did not get a honeymoon period of even a hundred hours. True. But why? For so careful and calculating a political leader, he allowed too many crisis points to develop in his very first days in office. Like the unconscionable railway rates hike before a finger was lifted to improve safety standards or food hygiene on board. The intensity of public protests rattled the mighty government; it put off plans to increase gas and kerosene prices. (…)

I am convinced that the Narendra Modi Government is guided, if not goaded, by the Hindi chauvinists. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has several liberal leaders who realise that the pace of switch-over to Hindi would have to be slow, keeping in mind unity in diversity. Apparently, they do not have much say.
Within the very first fortnight of Modi’s regime, the Central Government offices have received a circular that Hindi should be used on social media. This is an entrance through the (…)

MUSINGS
Seven years back, Justice Rajindar Sachar and his team had brought out the Sachar Committee Report, focusing on the rather dismal situation of the largest minority community of the country—the Musalmaans of Hindustan. I have this report with me but space constraints come in the way in detailing the bleak scenario the Indian Muslims face. I recall the words of the well-known economist and one of the prominent members of this fact-finding team, Dr Abu Saleh Sharief, who had commented (…)

by Simple Mohanty
Despite its overtly moderate positioning over development in these elections, the BJP manifesto still panders to its Hindutva constituency by promising to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya and abrogate Article 370. However in the past, when in power, the NDA Government steered clear of actually diluting Article 370, despite the BJP’s well-established stand on the issue. With a Modi- led government in place, there are strong reasons to make a plea for the continuation of (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
There is no dearth of serious thinking in this country over the festering crisis in Kashmir. Perhaps no other issue in our polity since independence has stimulated so much thinking—both in-depth and widespread—as the question, what to do in Kashmir. Across the entire spectrum of our political parties, Kashmir gets high priority.
What is more significant is that a degree of introspection is visible over the Kashmir question which is missing on many other important (…)

by K. Haridas
Kerala might have been among those States of the country where Modi and his brand of politics were discussed least favourably. As a State that has until this point of time denied even an Assembly seat, leave alone any luck with the Lok Sabha, to the BJP, it was quite natural to be so.
A Left camp, with unprecedented dissensions among the ranks and sympathisers, was fighting it out in the most prominent of the traditional bastions of the communist movement in the country.1 (…)

by Vinay K. Srivastava
The results of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections have come out and the BJP-led NDA has come to power under the leadership of Narendra Modi. I take this opportunity to congratulate him for this tremendous win and wish for continued success in all his future endeavours.
The new Prime Minister inherits an economy in crisis. India’s GDP growth is the lowest in a decade, inflation is high, industrial growth has frozen and job growth has dried up. Meanwhile, infrastructure (…)