2014

by Parul Jain
1. Introduction
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence (IPV), is defined as a pattern of abusive behaviours by one partner against another in an intimate relation-ship such as marriage, dating, family or cohabi-tation. Domestic violence, so defined, has many forms, including physical aggression or assault (hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, slapping, throwing objects, battery), (…)

by ambika dutta
Motherhood has always been glorified in the Indian social reality from the ancient times. From her image as Goddess to as Motherland or to a women’s role as mother; she as Maa-Mai-Mother has always explored a distinct identity and has secured a place of significance in the Indian social reality. The role of women as daughter-sister-wife-mother are the markers of womanhood, but motherhood as a gender-identity reveals a more complex picture in relation to the politics of (…)

Everyone was shocked by the recent crimina-lities in Parliament, but was anyone surprised? And does anyone believe that this is the last time such scenes of shame will be seen in the House? Our politics turned criminal when criminals turned politicians many moons ago. All parties were guilty in this. All parties conspired to protect criminal MPs.
They even tried to subvert the Supreme Court ruling that people in jail or police custody should be disqualified from contesting elections. When (…)

by l.k. sharma
The Jaipur Literature Festival has not just grown; it has evolved into an Indian show. The global meets local will be one way of describing this transformation. The literature in Indian languages, the culture of the State of Rajasthan and even the endangered languages figured prominently in the event this year. The organisers felt if the Hindiwallahs and the Rajasthani heritage experts wanted more time, let them have it. As a result, the subaltern got to speak.
It is (…)

The introduction of pentavalent vaccine in place of DPT vaccine in India’s universal immunisation programme has become one of the most controversial public health decisions in recent times. The proposal—already under implementation to push pentavalent vaccine (DPT + Hepatitis B + Hib) has been opposed by many eminent experts as well community health organisations, but this opposition based on strong evidence is being ignored due to the pressure exerted by powerful international organisations (…)

COMMUNICATION
According to reports in two leading Hindi newspapers Nai Duniya and Dainik Jagran, dated February 19, 2014, a parliamentary committee has found that 800 children in various schools associated with Asaram in Maharashtra died during the 12-year period 2001-2013.
This is a very high rate of deaths of school students and should be carefully investigated. Most of these schools are located in tribal areas. Most of these deaths have been attributed earlier to snake and scorpion (…)

Dr P.C. Joshi was close to N.C. and Mainstream. Many of his articles and reviews appeared in this journal. As a token of our sincere homage to his abiding memory we reproduce here one of his contributions—based on his keynote address delivered at the National Conference of the Society for Communal Harmony, New Delhi, on September 26-27, 1998—that appeared in the Mainstream Annual 1999.

EDITORIAL
Have the Gujarat riots of 2002 been consigned to the dustbin of history? This question assumes importance in the context of the somersault of Ramvilas Paswan, the LJP supremo. In the wake of the horrendous happenings in Gujarat precisely 12 years ago (that can hardly be called “riots” for those were nothing short of anti-Muslim pogroms by Hindu fanatics backed by even local citizens under the spell of Modiesque communal propaganda), Ramvilas Paswan came out of the NDA castigating (…)

As of now, there appears to be between 200 and 250 Lok Sabha seats outside the influence of the two principal coalition configurations of the NDA and the UPA. Most of the south and east, with the exception of Karnataka, appear to be beating the spell of the principal national alignments. The condition can translate into two associated possibilities.
One is a coalition of the remainder, call it a federal front, third front or by whatever name. For the record, 11-odd parties have steered (…)

Ukraine, with a troubled history, particularly during the past two decades following the Soviet Union’s dissolution, has witnessed yet another coup engineered by armed ultra-nationalists and fascists. The Supreme Rada, the parliament of the country, in violation of the Constitution and established procedures, has declared early elections to be held on May 25, and has appointed the parliament’s Speaker, Olexander Torchinov, as the Acting President. The country’s legitimate President, Victor (…)