2015

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
In the competitive radicalism of the Hindu Right the Shiv Sena is trying to upstage the Sangh Parivar. The latest instance of this is blackening the face of Sudheendra Kulkarni, a close associate of senior BJP lealder Lal Krishna Advani. Kulkarni’s ‘crime’ was to invite former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri to launch his book, Neither a Hawk nor a Dove, in Mumbai. The function was organised by the Observer Research Foundation of Mukesh Ambani. Not only was (…)

The recent Vedic Sanskrit conference held at University of Delhi shows a deliberate effort being made by the BJP Government to create a divisive strategy. No, I have nothing against Sanskrit. I myself had taken it in my Intermediate class as one of the choice subjects. But to be frank, it was more because it is a scoring subject than out of any foolish boastful claim of its supremacy amongst the languages. Each language has a claim of its own and area and philosophy. Languages which in daily (…)

by Irfan Engineer
Our PM Narendra Modi travels across the globe soliciting global capital to India and announces various deals making India a very attractive destination for multinational capital to earn its dream profits. PM recently met the CEOs of various companies in the US for Digital India. Spectacular events were staged and attractive announcements were made. The CEOs—whether of Indian origin or nationals of other countries— are accountable only to their share-holders for the (…)

IMPRESSIONS
We can understand the controversy over beef; it is a subject intertwined with spirituality, faith and nowadays fanatic intolerance. But dogs? In no culture is the dog an object of canonical homage. Yet dogs arouse human passions other animals don’t. Is this because they often show loyalty and intelligence that are rare in the animal kingdom? Dogs’ faithfulness to their masters is matched by the owners’ devotion to their dogs. At one end we have Queen Elizabeth proudly strolling (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
We as a nation are proud of the fact that we are a secular democracy. The test of our secularism does not consist in our protestations, however loud these may be, but in the manner we conduct ourselves towards the minorities who live and toil in this far-flung Republic of ours. Not only have we as a nation to ensure security to the minorities but should be able to instil into them a sense of security through our conduct. It is this challenge the nation faces today. (…)

V.R. Krishna Iyer, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and Home Minister in the CPI-led government in Kerala (1957-59), visited in 1982 Meerut where communal tension had been persisting for over two months. On his return, Justice Krishna Iyer wrote a letter to P.C. Sethi, the Home Minister, Government of India, giving his impressions and suggestions. He forwarded a copy of this letter to the Prime Minister of India, with the observation: “After all, the integrity of the nation, the (…)

by Saumitra Mohan
Boundaries between nation-states are reflections of the interplay of the forces of history, politics and wars but oftentimes they could be simply a manifestation of a shoddy and hasty job as transpired in the wake of the recommen-dations of the Boundary Commission led by Sir Cyril Radcliffe. The malformed borders between India and Pakistan became a curse for the people living in the enclaves between India and Pakistan or Bangladesh since 1971. Even though the enclave (…)

by M.C. Pindwal
India is a house of multiple religions and faiths followed by a heterogeneous mixture of believers of various sects that flourish together with a sense of tolerance whereas this kind of tolerance is hardly visible in Europe as most of them do not like other nationalities to come and settle there as they would eat into their cake. On this account they do not like even their temporary stay as they have spilled over into Germany and other European countries by crossing their (…)

The ugly face of human tragedy was unfolded when the world saw shocking images of the lifeless body of three-year-old Syrian boy, Alyanc Kurdi. Alyan’s five-year-old brother Galip, and mother Rehan, aged 35, too met the same fate along with other twelve Syrian refugees as their boat capsized while attempting to reach the Greek Island of Kos. The pictures of the toddler went viral on the net, and appeared in the newspapers the world over. The pictures were distressing and caused outrage at (…)

COMMUNICATION
At a time when the government is supposed to be committed to implementing the Right to Education legislation, students, particularly girl students, of a school in Tonk district of Rajasthan were brutally lathi-charged by the police on September 30. Seven girls got painful injuries and the condition of one of them was specially serious after vomiting blood.
A senior secondary school in Chauru village has 22 posts of teachers but only seven of them had been filled. Students, (…)