2014

From N.C.’s Writings
June 29, 2014 marked the 121st birth anniversory of Prof Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. On this occasion we reproduce the following piece by N.C. that appeared at the time of Mahalanobis’ birth centenary. This is particularly important now that the Narandra Modi dispensation has decided to completely devalue and destroy the Planning Commission which was painstakingly built during the days of the Nehru-Mahaalanobis model of development that charted out the path for the (…)

by M.R. Biju
The sixteenth Lok Sabha elections were held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12, 2014. According to the Election Commission of India, the electoral population of the country was 814.5 million, an increase of 100 million since the 2009 general elections. The 2014 elections were the longest and most expensive polls in the electoral history of the nation. The polls cost Rs 135 billion excluding the expenses of political parties. The parties spent around Rs 30,500 crores in (…)

Democracy and personal liberty should never be taken for granted. This is a warning that the imposition of the Emergency gave 39 years ago when the then Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, furtively extinguished the lights of freedom on the night of June 25-26 to save her skin.
The Allahabad High Court had disqualified her as an MP for six years for using official machinery during her election campaign. Instead of stepping down, she suspended the Constitution, imposed Press censorship and (…)

Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863 and died at just 39 years of age on July 4, 1902. His 150th birth anniversary was observed in January 2013. The following article has been written on the occasion of his 112th death anniversary that falls this week.
In the struggle for India’s freedom numerous men and women sacrificed their lives. One amongst them was Swami Vivekananda. Though he did not directly challenge foreign rule, yet his contribution in the awakening of his countrymen (…)

by Arun Srivastava
Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik and Bihar’s former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have many similarities: Both are perceived as the icons of development and growth; both are prime ministerial materials; and both have mustered courage to rebuff the BJP and chart out their own independent political lines. But they have one poignant difference. While Patnaik stopped the juggernaut of Narendra Modi in Odisha notwithstanding the latter’s incredulous boast to wipe out Patnaik (…)

by R.G. Gidadhubli
The declaration of unilateral ceasefire by Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, on June 20, 2014 could turn out to be a wise policy decision to de-escalate the crisis condition in the eastern regions of the country. Poroshenko has been candid in stating that this short ceasefire will be the first step to ease the conflict. The Presidents of the Western countries—Barack Obama, Hollande and Merkel—have welcomed Poroshenko’s ceasefire. There is also positive response from (…)

Several noted personalities have passed away in the last few months. We are remembering a few of them and offering our sincere homage to their abiding memory.
Before 2013 came to a close one of the pioneering women leaders in the communist movement in Kerala, Rosamma Punnoose, breathed her last in distant Oman on December 28, 2013. Born on May 13, 1913, she would have completed 101 years in May this year. She died at Salalah, Oman where she was staying with her son, Dr Thomas.
A freedom (…)

The Narendra Modi Government has come face to face with its first foreign policy crisis — in Iraq. What seemed a tricky operational challenge up until today has turned critical politically with the calculated move by the extremist elements behind the mayhem in northern Iraq to forcibly take away nearly 4 dozen Indian female nurses from India who were working in Tikrit to their stronghold of Mosul. There have been casualties, too. (here).
How this is going to pan out can only be known in (…)

EDITORIAL
Today marks one month in office of the Nareindra Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre.
One of the major reasons for the BJP’s success at the hustings was the effect of the backbreaking economic problems, particularly runaway prices, on the aam aadmi or the common man, the same person who had solidly stood by the UPA not only in 2004 but in 2009 as well. And the Modi Goverment, instead of alleviating the conditions of this person (as the persent PM had promised to do during his (…)

The following is an interview with Qamar Agha, a specialist on West Asian affairs, who spoke to the
Mainstream editor.
Ques: What is the genesis of the latest crisis in Iraq?
I must tell you that the ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) or the ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), whose thrust into Iraq from Syria has caused the latest crisis, is a powerful organisation. It was part of the Al-Qaeda but the ISIS activists refused to accept Al-Zawahiri as their leader and that (…)