2014

Any attempt to make sense of the content and role of the manifestos issued by the various political parties would surely acquire a context for appraisal by means of at least a quick overview of the nature of the economic and political processes and forces which are the principal players shaping the main contentious issues placed before the electorate. It is a huge task but what we attempt here is to preface our main exercise by a quick overview of what appears to us to be the nature of (…)

by T. Sadashivam
Introduction
The elections in our country, either for State Assembly or Lok Sabha, bring a festive mood among political parties (that may not be true for the majority of Indians). Nonetheless, elections bring voting rights in the hands of the common people to elect their representatives, who will in turn govern them. In the first Lok Sabha election, which was held in 1951, the total electorate was 17.32 crores, which increased to an electorate of 81.5 crores at present (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following piece, which was published as ‘Political Notebook’ in Mainstream (December 12, 1992), is being reproduced now as the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 has assumed a crucial role in the wake of the majoritarian offensive in the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.
The vandalism that brought down the Babri Masjid structure on December 6 will remain a Black Sunday in the annals of independent India. Like the insensate violence of fratricidal (…)

I may question the timing, practically on the eve of polling for the Lok Sabha election, of the disclosure of conspiracy behind the demolition of the Babri Majid at Ayodhya in 1992. I do not know how this has helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the polls during which it shed the development factor and came out in true colours, the pro-Hindu stance. Its election manifesto is a bit accommodative on the Mandir and seeks solution within the constitutional framework. But the BJP remains (…)

The BJP-led NDA’s dominance in the media tends to create the vision of a one-horse race. But healthy skepticism can provide food for thought. For instance, that Narendra Modi does not signify what the BJP stood for and will not be for long identified under him with the nationalist Right which constituted the political axis with the Congress at the Centre and the CPI-M on the Left. The symbolism of the Right as conservative, the Centre as a modus vivendi on socio-political status quo and (…)

by Mohammad Anzar Alam
Laloo Prasad Yadav recorded his entry in the active politics under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan during his Bihar movement, which is called as JP Movement, that was infl-uenced by the movement in Gujarat. The JP Movement started in Bihar in 1974. Laloo Prasad’s election as the General Secretary of the Patna University Students Union in 1967-69 eventually prepared the ground for his entry into the mainstream of national politics and provided him a platform to (…)

by Anwar Sadat and Sarwar Sadat
Climate change, which poses an existential threat to mankind is not an issue for the 16th Lok Sabha elections, 2014. The existing climate change regime does not bind India to reduce greenhouse gases as per the principle of the common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. India is permitted not to mitigate greenhouse gases. But the severe impacts of climate change, which are purely local and developmental in character, cannot be (…)

by Mahaswetha Dass
The concern over the lack of a legal mechanism for the protection of refugees and stateless persons in the South Asian region had been a topic of concern for many working for the protection of their human rights. In the urban scenario, the lack of proper health care system, sanitation, housing, education and the right to work makes it a day-to-day struggle process for these vagabonds. Xenophobia and racism are often an underlying threat and the situation isn’t much (…)

The crisis over Ukraine, by far the gravest one Europe has faced after the end of the Cold War, now opens the prospect of an energy crisis in the continent. Even if military conflicts do not escalate any more, Russia and the United States, the two big powers, may confront each other on the strategic issue of energy supply to Europe. Tensions have been mounting. Already Russia has been suspended from the G-8 group of countries and Barack Obama, the US President, has described Russia as a (…)

Halt Modi and his moves! Save this country from destruction, from a complete breakdown! Well, the sane of this country are openly uttering these two-liners. In fact, last evening (April 14) the Varanasi-based historian, Dr Mohammad Arif—he was teaching at the Banaras Hindu University and is now heading the All India Secular Forum—told me that the very basic aim of Varanasi based activists and academics is to halt Modi. “A person like Narendra Modi, who is a permanent source of anxiety and (…)