2014

The following is a press release issued an March 12, 2014 on behalf of the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy by PIPFPD, India
by Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal and Asha Hans, co-chairpersons, PIPFPD India Chapter.
The recent case of charges of sedition, spreading enmity and mischief imposed on some students from Kashmir at the Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh and their expulsion from this University after they cheered for Pakistan post-a cricket (…)

Foreign rulers always claim that their regimen is benign and helps the subjects. The British are no exception. They say the same thing about their governance. But if their atrocities were to be enumerated, the record would be brutal. The credit for not defaming the British for their 150-year rule goes to the Indians who have taken the past in their stride and have even joined the Commonwealth with the Queen as the symbol of unity.
Still the British have never said or written a good word (…)

Is Ukraine sending the world any fresh messages? There could be several. Beginning with the innocuous yet significant information provided by the BBC, the “tough” posturing attributed to important sources needed to be taken guardedly because cash-strapped Euro-peans would not easily annoy billionaire Russian migrants, given their sensitivities on Mother Russia (built on 9th century Kiev!) and financial contributions to their countries of adoption. Russia’s trade with Europe is also well (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The dramatic change-over of the government in Uttar Pradesh marks a veritable turning-point in our present-day politics. The ouster of Mulayam Singh Yadav and the installation of Mayawati in his place heralds the beginning of the season of prepartions for the Lok Sabha poll. The whole episode—which was in the nature of a coup—reflects the moves and counter-moves on the part of all the major parties in the coming parliamentary elections. If the breaking up of the SP-BSP (…)

by Sadhan Mukherjee
The UGC had put up a set of draft regulations on distance education in its website on December 19, 2013 seeking comments thereon by January 3, 2014. It has now reportedly finalised the same but did not put these up on the website. The regulations, as made known in draft, were rigid, regressive and divorced from present-day reality; and had the hallmark of a typical bureaucratic wooden-headedness. The UGC, it seems, is bent upon overthrowing all that has been achieved so (…)

The Jew as well as the Christian, the Hindu no less than the Muslim ‘fundamentalist’ plies an ideology of superior difference. Each confronts an inferior and threatening Other. Each engages in the politics of exclusion. Hence each poses a menace to the minority communities within its boundary... For the Muslim militants the Other are the Jews, occasionally Christians and, in South Asia, the Hindus, Christians, and Ahme-dis. I know of no religio-political formation today which does not have a (…)

communication
All those who are striving to search for genuine alternatives to the capitalist path of development should be grateful to Arvind Kejriwal for very honestly and frankly informing them that the AAP party led by him does not provide this alternative.
The reference here is what Arvind Kejriwal said while addressing the National Council Meet of the Confederation of Indian Industry in Delhi on February 17. As reported in The Indian Express the next day, Kejriwal said: “Government (…)

IMPRESSIONS
This is a time when even his critics would feel sorry for Shashi Tharoor. He had a dream run for the first half-century of his life— progression through the very best of schools, a prized United Nations career, acclamation as an author, political debut as a favourite of India’s ruling oligarchy, ministership at first shot as MP, recognition as a darling of high society. But he was star-crossed from the day he entered politics. One controversy ended only when another started. (…)

The recent news that two MLAs of the Goa Legislative Assembly had registered their birth at the Civil Registration Office in Lisbon created a major controversy in this State. Goa was liberated from colonial rule on December 19, 1961. Subsequently, the Goa, Daman and Diu (Citizenship) Order, 1962 bestowed Indian citizenship on all Goans born before December 20, 1961 though any such person could within one month from the publication of the Order in the Official Gazette make a written (…)

TRIBUTE
Renowned artist Amrita Sher-Gil’s birth centenary took place last year. She was born on January 30, 1913 and passed away on December 5, 1941. The following tribute, by noted writer Anees Chishti (editor of the periodical, Alp-jan), who was then associated with Mainstream, appeared in this journal’s February 22, 1964 issue, precisely fifty years ago.
She came, she created and became immortal. This is how the brilliant painting career of Amrita Sher-Gil can be described in brief. (…)