2015

From N.C.’s Writings
Fifteen years to go before the onset of the Twentyfirst Century and thirtyeight years since the Tricolour was hoisted on the ramparts of the Red Fort in 1947, this year’s celebration of August Fifteenth can very well be made the starting point for preparing the blueprint for modernising this nation of seven hundred million people.
To modernise a country with such amazingly uneven development—in which primitive tribal economy co-exists with highly advanced modern (…)

On August 15, we celebrate the Independence Day. On that day, in 1947, Prime Minister Nehru proclaimed a tryst with destiny, “a moment which comes but rarely in history when we step from the old into the new, when an age ends and the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance”.
The colonial rule destroyed the Indian economy and greatly impoverished the people of India. An estimate by the Cambridge historian, Angus Wilson, reveals that in 1700, India’s share of the world income was (…)

Independence Day is the annual occasion of remembering the ideals and events of our freedom struggle. It gives the opportunity of assessing the successes and failures in realising the vision of Swaraj which evolved during the national movement since the days of Tilak, Sri Aurobindo, Gandhi, Nehru, Subhas and Ambedkar. From this point of view, 2015 has been an interesting year in the democratic journey of India around the goals of Swaraj. There were interesting developments about political (…)

On the 40th anniversary of the Internal Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi on June 26, 1975, former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani’s caution against its recurrence drowned the real issues in the resulting din. One set of reactions, viewing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his regime in the mirror of the 2002 riots and picking up trends and antiphons from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under a new leadership since the 2014 elections, interpreted it to mean undemocratic, if not (…)

I was a member of the Rajya Sabha some 12 years ago. The Upper House would be disturbed over one matter or the other constantly. During my six-year tenure, I saw both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vying with one another in doing so, with no difference in passion or planning. On occasions, the parties tried to outdo each other.
I felt strongly that we, the Members, were wasting public funds to the disappointment of the already disillusioned people. So the question was: (…)

On August 3, 2015 the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim or the NSCN (IM) signed an agreement. Although the contents of the Accord have not been made public, it is being hailed as an important milestone in the history of Indo-Naga relations.
The Accord was signed by R.N. Ravi, senior Intelligence officer, on behalf of the Government of India and by Isak Swu and Thuingaleng Muiva on behalf of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN). So, is this Accord (…)

“The part taken by Krishna Chandra Roy of Nadiya in the establishment of the English power reflected credit on his foresight; and in recognition of the services rendered by him, Lord Clive conferred on him the title of Rejendra Bahadur. He was also presented with a dozen guns used at Plassey. They may still be seen in the Rajbari.” —W.W. Hunter, The Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. II, Districts of Nadiya & Jessore, Trubner & Co., London, 1875, p. 158
Part-I
The Conspirator of (…)

Though the Second World War (WW II) technically ended on May 9, 1945 with the Nazi German surrender to the Soviet Red Army, the war in the Far East, particularly against fascist Japan, continued till September 1945.
The Soviet Union had been preparing for the offensive in the Far East even before the end of the War in the German and Italian theatres in May 1945. When it became clear that the German end was near, the Soviets began to transfer their troops across Siberia on a huge scale (…)

The RBI Governor and officials of the Ministry of Finance have often appeared to be at loggerheads in the last more than a year. He spoke on the economy in less than positive terms in his June policy pronouncement. There has been a controversy about the structure of the proposed Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). It appeared that this Committee was to be set up to end the veto of the RBI Governor over the setting of interest rates. A majority of the members of the Committee were to be (…)

TRIBUTE
One of India’s most well-known proponents of nuclear disarmament, P.R. Chari, passed away in New Delhi on July 24. Chari, a former officer of the Indian Administrative Service, served two terms in the Defence Ministry, and was also a former Director of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) from 1975 to 1980. He was known for promoting a “consensual approach on the nuclear issue”, according to Commodore Uday Bhaskar, also a Director at the government-affiliated IDSA. (…)