2014

Janaky Thevar, Commander of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, the first all-women’s military wing of the world and part of the Indian National Army, passed away in Kuala Lumpur recently. An amazing heroine imbued with a death-defying commitment to free India, any epithet would be inadequate to define Janaky Thevar Athi Nahappan. Short-statured and dark-skinned, Janaky was born in Malaya (now Malaysia) to parents of Tamilian origin.
However, a life-transforming experience occurred when she heard (…)

Not too long ago, most political analysts assumed that the era of single-party govern-ment was now history. But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s stunning victory has conveyed a strong message. Strategic campaigning, resting on the political image of one man, can still help a party like the BJP to assume power without having to fall back on the support of other parties. Yes, without the hype raised about Modi-wave, the results may have been different. Similarly, had Narendra Modi not laid (…)

I was not surprised when television channels did not cover the taking over of a large television news network by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited. Most channels—roughly around 300—are owned by property dealers who can afford to spend Rs 1 crore, an average monthly expenditure, through money laun-dering. Every one of them wants to be the Reliance one day.
What has taken me aback is that the press has reported the deal but has preferred to keep quiet. Even though journalism has (…)

While the 21st century appears more democratic, inclusive, and pluralist, the contem-porary global world has witnessed resurgence of new forms of discrimination, exclusion, polarisation and domination. The underlying philosophy of economic liberalisation and globalisation which compels integration with the capitalist world is certainly not to equalise but to create a peripheral status for the majority. The oligopolistic nature of the capitalist economy has successfully established the (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following is the second-last article of N.C. to appear in this journal. It was published in Mainstream (March 21, 1998). He passed away on June 27 of the same year.
Reflections on the Constitution
We are now witness to the transfer of power—from one group to another. Many of the differences are being sorted out while some remain as differences over which differences persist.
It is to be recognised that on the issue of differences there arose disharmony which (…)

by Biswajit Roy
Now that Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister of India, it’s high time for some honest introspection by the Left and liberals of all hues on our collective failure to offer even a semblance of resistance to the corporate class and its media’s poll-time mythmaking around him. Fellow commentators like Nirmalangshu Mukherjee, Shuddhabrata Sengupta and Mukul Dube have rightly pointed out that Modi has come to power with just 31 per cent of polled votes (21 per cent of (…)

TRIBUTE
by Mahtab Alam
On May 12, while I was still trying to cope with the sad demise of noted human rights lawyer Advocate Purushotham Poojary, in Mangalore, Karnataka, I was informed of yet another loss. But this time, the loss was more personal and tragic. “Mukul Sinha passed away,” informed a friend who was calling from Delhi. The news shook me to the core and for a few hours, I went numb with disbelief and was unable to respond properly. In fact, it is still difficult for me to (…)

When nearly 300 girls were abducted from a government senior secondary school in the north-eastern district town of Chibok a month ago, the mass kidnapping failed to make headlines. This is a stunning example of the use of women as the “spoils of war” around the world and nobody cares. The incident is also a reminder that women are always a soft target, bearing a disprop-ortionate burden of any conflict regardless of its nature. It took nearly a fortnight and severe international outrage for (…)

by Prasenjit Bose
Within a week of the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results in India last month, elections to the EU parliament were held (May 22-25) across 28 European countries. While gains made by the Eurosceptic Far Right parties grabbed the attention, the anti-capitalist Party of the European Left also made significant advances by winning 51 seats across EU, 16 more than in 2009. The Left has done especially well in countries like Greece and Spain where they have been (…)

WOMEN‘S WORLD
by Shruti Sharma
The way to empowerment and emancipation is through education. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that education be given to all. The makers of our Constitution realised the need for universal education, but the newly independent state had to include the right to free and compulsory education in the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV), which were not justiciable.1 From Independence onwards Commissions have been appointed time and again to (…)