2014

From N.C.’s Writings
The sensational criminal case that has come up in Bombay focussing on an alleged plot to kill Nusli Wadia and implicating in it an Ambani close to Dhirubhai and some of the underworld mafia, has serious political implications which are being lost sight of in the excitement that the case itself has evoked.
There is the danger of complacency in treating it as just the facet of a long-standing civil war between two corporate giants, Reliance under the Ambanis, and (…)

Respected Prakashji,
Greetings. We are passing through a critical phase of important decision-making before the crucial general elections this year. As the most prominently placed leader of the biggest Left party with a national-level presence, your role is very important in these times and people look up to you and your colleagues to make decisions which are carefully chosen to bring the most benefits, short-term and long-term, to the toiling masses of India.
You and your colleagues (…)

MUSINGS
These are fun times in the world’s largest democracy. As General Elections approach, doctrainaire distinctions between politics and sport are finally crumbling. Purchase and sale, purchase and sale—that is the presiding mantra; if cricketers are being bought and sold among contenders in the money-spinning Indian Premier League, so are professional political practitioners. In either arena, the object is to cut the best deals available mutually as between the individual and the team, (…)

Amidst the chaos and festivity of India’s multi-party colourful election campaign, it is not easy for saner voices of broad-based social change to be heard. If the print media has hardly any space for it, the electronic media has even less. Nevertheless efforts should be made at the time of general elections to link these with wider changes so badly needed in our society to reduce many-sided distress as well as to create longer-term conditions for sustainable, stable and inclusive (…)

by Rajeshwar Mishra
The Background
I am quickly bogged down by the mathematical modelling and theoretical complexities explain-ing human behaviour pertaining to society, economy, politics and culture. When, therefore, somebody is able to explain, in non-jargonised fashion, complex social phenomenon I feel encouraged to engage myself. It is in this context that I appreciate Prof Sunil Ray’s article on the culture of political vendetta in West Bengal as published in Mainstream. (‘Who Gains (…)

by B.K. Manish
The recent ambush attack in which 16 CRPF jawans lost their lives in the Tongpal area of Chhattishgarh has generated considerable amount of comment from pen-pushers of various orientations in the front and op-ed pages of leading dailies. What has not been focused on is how it exposes the human rights activists in particular and the civil society in general on the police reforms front. A leading economic and political journal wondered in an editorial piece in September 2013 (…)

I. Introduction
Sustainable energy may be perceived as the engine of sustainable human development. Though the idea of ‘development’ in the immediate post-World War era, was conceived as ‘economic development’, in due course of time it has evolved as ‘human development’. Of late, sustainability is blended with human development for its ecological significance. Development also has to be just; so it needs to be inclusive. Sustainable energy is critically important in the realisation of all (…)

Arab Spring1 and democracy are the catch-phrases in the contemporary intellectual discourse to define the trajectory of democratic transformation in the Arab world envisaging political participation, rule of law, increasing human capabilities, and development. Moreover, the wave of mass protests and demonstrations that rocked in the Arab world was largely attributed to repressive regimes, misuse of human rights, corruption, unemployment, and failure of the economic structure to afford (…)

by Arun Srivastava
The mathematics of politics does not follow the rules or grammar of arithmetic. It has its own language. The six-day political churning, from February 22 to 27, which witnessed secular Dalit leaders Ramdas Athawale of the RPI, Dr Udit Raj, Chairman of the All India Confede-ration of SC/ST Organisations, and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan aligning with the BJP, was in fact a strategic move of the RSS to change the basic structure of secularism and inject a new element of (…)

I was at Lahore when Pakistan defeated India in the Asia Cup cricket match. There were celebrations and firings in the air. This is understandable because a country which is one-seventh of India feels elated by vanquishing it in some field. Even otherwise, there is no love lost between the two. What surprised me was the running theme in the talks about the victory—that India has not accepted Pakistan. This is not true and politicians in Pakistan raise this slogan to frighten the voters for (…)