2015

The Government of India’s move in banning the telecast of the BBC documentary ‘India’s Daughter’ depicting the aftermath of the brutal gang rape and murder of Nirbhaya is wholly unwarranted, based as it is on a misunder-standing of the power and the message behind it. The documentary portrays the courage, sensitivity and liberal outlook of a family traumatised by the brutality inflicted on the daughter, the continuing shameful attitudes towards women among the convict as well as the educated (…)

TRIBUTE
Dr Ninan Koshy (February 1, 1934-March 4, 2015) was a noted political thinker, foreign affairs expert, theologian and social analyst. He was born in 1934 in Thiruvalla. A former Director of the World Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, he was an LDF candidate from Mavelikkara constituency (Kerala) in the 1999 general elections. He was also well known as a political commentator, social activist, author and orator. He served on a committee to draft Kerala’s policy on (…)

by Dustin Robertson
‘Make in India’ is a spirited slogan and initiative coined by India’s new Prime Minister that aims to “Facilitate investment. Foster innovation. Enhance skill development. Protect intellectual property. And build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure.”1 At the same time, Prime Minister Modi has said that labour issues should be seen through the eyes of the (shramik) worker. However, when one considers the actions and labour reforms proposed, the sincerity of the (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following ‘Political Notebook’ by N.C. was written twenty years ago and appeared in Mainstream (March 4, 1995). It is being reproduced here against the backdrop of a two-day seminar in New Delhi (March 4-5, 2015) “Understanding Pakistan” (to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy) that was attended by a large number of Pakistani scholars and peace activists working for restoring and strengthening Indo-Pak amity. (…)

MUSINGS
There’s a sense of disbelief-cum-outrage at the PDP-BJP merger for government formation in J&K. Nah, not just a marriage of convenience but I would label it to be a mismatched marriage that wouldn’t last long. Perhaps, the PDP has dug its own grave! Though there are hundreds of unmarked graves in the Valley but this one will be well marked. With this merger, the PDP has taken one of those U-turns that the masses will find difficult to digest. No amount of explanations or those (…)

by L.K. Sharma
In a message to the tax evaders, a frightening voice says: “We know it all! Every single transaction of yours! You can hide nothing!” Meanwhile, [‘Indians are getting more materialistic... Indian crowd celebrate newly elected politicians in Nagaon, 2013’. Diganta Talukdar/Demotix. All rights reserved.]
In a democracy called India, the people changed the government. The new government wants to change the people! Dissatisfied with their behaviour and conduct, it wants the (…)

COMMUNICATION
The veteran jurist and former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Mr Rajindar Sachar, has taken undue offence to the watermark of the Preamble to the Consitution in an advertisement appearing without the words “secular” and “socialist". These words were inserted in 1976 Amendment to the Constitution while the ad was issued on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of India’ s Republic when these words did not form part of the Preamble. He dubs the action as “treason". This (…)

In recent times Left parties and organisations have been increasingly pushed towards the margins. In such a situation their potential to create a better world should be protected. All social forces, which have a potential to contribute to a just and secure world, should be helped to overcome their problems so that they can make a creative contribution to a better world.
The task of Left unity has to be explored in this broad perspective. It should not be based only on narrow objectives (…)

The US-Iran negotiations have successfully crossed the boulder that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threw in the way via his outreach to the American lawmakers. The conclusion can be safely drawn after Netanyahu’s speech that neither do the US lawmakers feel emboldened to enact new legislation intended to complicate the US-Iran talks nor is President Barack Obama feeling browbeaten to backtrack on his policy toward Iran.
Surprisingly, after all the brouhaha in the recent weeks, (…)

EDITORIAL
The Finance Minister’s presentation of the Union Budget on the last day of February naturally attracted national attention. However, several other develop-ments have also hogged the headlines of late.
Serious infighting within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has led to two founder members of the party, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, being removed from the AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) by majority vote (11-8) in the party’s National Executive (which has 22 members with (…)