2015

by Michael Todd
According to the WTO experts, a considerable part of the Iranian business will not benefit from the lifting of the US sanctions. Except in the case of some commodities, Washington intends to retain the full trade embargo. What is to be noted in particular is that in the mid-term perspective, the changes that have been contemplated do not apply to restrictions contained in the laws of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran imposed in 1996 (by virtue of the (…)

by D.K. Panigrahi
Education means the acquisition of knowledge overcoming our own ignorance. Knowledge is the information, understanding and skills that we gain through education or experience. It is the state of knowing about a particular fact or situation. Knowledge is acquired in two ways: idea to object or object to idea. Education imparts knowledge. Education means the process of teaching and learning, the theory and practice of teaching and training in a particular subject. It gives (…)

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
On October 2 this year falls the 146th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The day is observed the world over as the United Nations’ International Day of Non-violence. The Mahatma, who led India’s struggle for freedom, saw the victory of that struggle but it was a Pyrrhic victory. Freedom came with the partition of India and a communal bloodbath that took a very heavy toll of human lives—Muslims as well as Hindus. During the twilight years of his life the Mahatma was (…)

[On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s one hundred and fortysixth birth anniversary on October 2, 2015, we are reproducing the following excerpts from his writings and pronouncements.]
Soldiers drunk with the pride of physical strength loot shops and are not even ashamed to take liberties with women. The administration is powerless in the war time to prevent such happenings. The army fulfils their primary need, and they wink the eyes at their misdeeds...
Hence arise questions which a (…)

I know I am one among the forty crores of people
I have heard the announcement: the auspicious hour
Of my life has come and all cowardly thoughts have melted away,
There is festival in my blood, please hold my hand, Gandhiji,
We have fought, died and taken a vow here
We’ll wade through their dead bodies and reach the invincible kingdom
Came flood, came death, came the storm of war
Great Famine left its signature on every road,
Every moment I was afraid the whole history was (…)

A critic had once remarked of an artist that a painting is not Indian or European simply on account of whether it is painted in India or in Europe. Similarly, one may say that scholarship is not scholarly simply because it is done by academics. Although academic writing ought to advance our knowledge rather than limit our understanding, some academic writing in the last few years appears clearly to be marked by a pursuit of sectarian politics by other means. A recent trend in writing on M.K. (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following editorial of N.C. was published in the October 4, 1969 issue of Mainstream marking the birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi is not an occasion for rejoicing but for sorrow that the people of India are still far from the goal of social and economic equality which he cherished and for which in his own inimitable way he strove all his life. The sorrow is intensified by the fact that despite declaring ourselves a secular (…)

The week from Sepember 26 to October 2 is a very special one for all those engaged in efforts to build a better India based on justice and equality. This week includes the birth anniversary of Shahid Bhagat Singh (September 28) followed by the birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on October 2. In addition this week we also observe death anniversaries of two of the most inspiring activists of post-indepen-dent India—Shankar Guha Niyogi (September 28) and Kishan Patnaik (…)

The Hindu (September 23, 2015) reports that at an RSS meeting, the hitherto routine discourse about true secularism and pseudo-secularism (alleged “minority appeasement’) has come to be superseded by a bolder formulation. Noting that the stipulation about “secularism” was clandestinely inserted into the Preamble of the Constitution by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency period, as per the above report, Shri Manmohan Vaidyaji has given voice to what one always knew to be the real position of (…)

COMMUNICATION
Motilal, a leading social activist of Rajasthan, breathed his last on September 23. Motilal worked till his last moments for the welfare of the Sahariya tribals. Well-educated and coming from a family of well-to-do business persons, Motiji left behind all thoughts of a prosperous career to submerge himself completely in work for the welfare and rights of the Sahariya tribals in the Baran district of Rajasthan.
This work was actually of national importance, as the attention (…)