2014

Dictatorships get a fillip when democracies falter. India committed this cardinal sin when it abstained from voting at the UN Human Rights Council. A resolution was sought to be passed to seek an international, transparent inquiry to find out whether Sri Lanka had killed in cold blood 40,000 soldiers and others in the wake of hostilities against the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE). They had surrendered unconditionally.
India’s abstention reminds me of the words of Prime Minister (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
BJP’s Dangerous Politics
One of my earliest reporting experiences was the great Calcutta killing of 1946. Fierce communal passions were unleashed and thousands were done to death on both sides in the course of a couple of days. But behind that gory carnage was the fight for the city of Calcutta: who should get it? Pakistan or India? Religious beliefs are made use of to rouse mass anger among innocent people, but those who whip up such passions do so only for (…)

In terms of geographical spread and demographic reach, India has one national party, namely, the Indian National Congress, and one quasi-national party, namely, the Bharatiya Janata Party—quasi because among a hundred and fifty or more parliamentary seats in India’s eastern and southern States it has next to no organisational or political hold. Which is not to say that it is not the loudest in propagating its primary claim to “Indianness” on Hindu-cultural grounds, a dearly-held indigenism (…)

The RSS/BJP continue to act innocent on the Mahatma Gandhi assassination issue. Fresh attempts are being made by their leaders, on the eve of the elections, to ‘clarify’ that the RSS was in no way involved in the crime. This does not convince anyone.
The RSS has tried to use some technical details to free itself of the charge, without replying to the crucial aspects of the question. Both the RSS and BJP have also been selectively using Sardar Patel’s statements, and distorting them in (…)

[We have come across two articles related to defence and self-reliance in Business Standard of late. Since the subject is under intense discussion in recent times we are reproducing, with due acknowledgement, the two articles for the benefit of our readers.]
The Missing Military-Industrial Complex
Genuine Strategic Autonomy lies in creating Conditions Conducive to Private Participation in the Defence Industry
Hemant Krishan Singh and Sanjay Pulipaka
As Asia grapples with the (…)

‘Revolution’ has been a very inspiring word for millions of people working for creating a better world. However, vested interests have often also misused this word. So it is important to try to define ‘revolution’ in the present-day context in clear and simple terms.
Whether we see at world level or at the level of our country, it is clear that pain and suffering exist on a large scale. Most of this distress is related to inequalities, exploitation, domination, cruelty, insensitivity and (…)

by Imtiaz Ahmad Ansari
The 16th Lok Sabha elections for the world’s largest democracy, India, will be held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12, 2014. The total number of voters for this election is 814 million. This election is important in many respects. But one single figure who has captured the centre-stage is the BJP; prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. It is more because of his involvement, direct or indirect, in the ghastly 2002 anti-Muslim communal riot in Gujarat and his (…)

by Anil Chamadia
The Hindu, a leading English daily newspaper, carried a report on December 20, 2013 about the suicide of Dr Khurshid Anwar, an Executive Director of an NGO. He had committed suicide on December 18. In the report its correspondent mentioned that Dr Anwar was buried on December 19. As per the reporter, “Dr Anwar was buried here on Thursday after the post-mortem.”(http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/ngo-director-tried-to-contact-girl-before-suicide/article5482107.ece, (…)

by Imran Ahmad Kichloo
“The time has come for at least a debate to find out whether Article 370 has benefited the common man in Jammu and Kashmir or not,” Narendra Modi stated recently while addressing a rally in Jammu. This reminds us of the famous statement of the Indian representative to the UN that “sinners are trying to teach the lesson of chastity”. Modi might have got great applause for this which was nothing but a new stunt in the politics of populism. Before engaging in arguments (…)

Fruits and vegetables (F/V) have been quite a luxury in many countries in Asia and elsewhere for centuries. When travelling from Lebanon to the border of Bengal, kitchen gardens, so widespread in Africa south of the Sahara, were not common, although some fallow lands could have been devoted to F/V.
Milk was widespread but with low yields. There was a combination of agriculture and animal husbandry which was not the case further east. The famous French geographer, Pierre Gourou, called (…)