2015

India and Germany share historical trade relations dating back to as far as the 16th century. Presently, Germany is India’s most important trading partner within the European Union. With India’s economic liberalisation in the 1990s, the bilateral trade has increased from 2.7 billion euros to 16 billion euros in 2014. In the first seven months of 2015, the bilateral trade increased by 13 per cent compared to 2014. However, there is a lot of scope for the two states to further deepen their (…)

by Sonali Huria and Pupul Dutta Prasad
On November 5, 2015, the international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or Doctors without Borders, released its Preliminary Internal Review1 regarding the devastating aerial attack by the American forces in the early hours of October 3, 2015, on its hospital, the Kunduz Trauma Centre (KTC), in the Afghan city of Kunduz. The attack led to the killing of nearly 30 persons, including patients and MSF doctors and staff, (…)

Still recovering from the after-effects of the November 13 terrorist attack in Paris, President Francois Hollande followed his trip to Washington with a visit to Moscow on November 26. The United States, after all, was the traditional ‘Big Daddy’ of the Western alliance. But Russia had to be the new ally. The French President was there to seek Russia’s support in the collective war against the terrorist Islamic State, and President Vladimir Putin was promising it in ample measure.
Does (…)

BOOK REVIEW
A Delicate Shade of Pink: The Lives of Hella Wuolijoki and Salme Dutt in the Service of Revolution by Erkki Tuomioja; Wisdom Tree: New Delhi; 2013; pages: Xiv+375.
A Delicate Shade of Pink by Erkki Tuomioja is a story from a distant corner of Scandinavia mapping Finland, Estonia and Sweden. The author of the book is currently the Foreign Minister of Finland having vast international experience. He is a votary of the Nordic welfare state and believes that the Nordic variety of (…)

Myanmar is clearly at the cusp of momen-tous change. The excitement and sense of anticipation among the citizens in the country are palpably visible. In its journey of transition to democracy, the much-heralded elections of November 8, were a very important milestone. In the last leg of November, when conducting a training workshop for some newly elected representatives to the Parliament and State Legislatures in Myanmar, one could glimpse in the glint in their eyes their hope and vision for (…)

TRIBUTE
Ramkrishna Mukherjee, a distinguished scientist of the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, founder of the Sociological Research Unit at the ISI at the behest of P.C. Mahalanobis, one of the designers of the National Sample Survey of India in the 1950s and Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York, Binghamton, passed away in Kolkata on November 15, 2015 at 12.55 pm at the age of 98 from multi-organ failure arising from ascitis. His publications included (…)

The Fasivad Virodhi Manch, an Anti-Fascism Front, was launched at a public meeting and press conference New Delhi’s Press Club of India on November 19, 2015. The meeeting was addressed by Ashok Vajpeyi, John Dayal, Ali Javed, Apoorvanand, Ram Sharan Joshi, and Shabnam Hashmi.
The Manch was formed after a series of meetings over the past two months as one of the many efforts to counter the onslaught of the fascist forces. The FVM will work in collaboration with other platforms and (…)

EDITORIAL
Speaking at Kuala Lumpur while addressing the Indian diaspora there, PM Narendra Modi made a significant assertion last Sunday (November 22). This had not come from him in India. He underscored that terror must be delinked from religion, adding: “The only distinction is between those who believe in humanity and those who do not.” A moment earlier he had said:
Terrorism knows no boundaries. It uses the name of religion to draw people to its cause but kills people of all faiths. (…)

ON GROUNDS OF AGE AND SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITIONS
Kobad Ghandy’s Request for Urgent Appeal to Release him on Bail
Kobad Ghandy wrote the following note on November 10, 2015 and sent it to us for publication in Mainstream at the earliest. It reached us on November 21, 2015. We are publishing it without delay in our latest issue with the hope that readers will urgently respond to his request. —Editor
Just today, in response to an RTI, I was sent a copy of the Jharkhand FIR. It seems, after (…)

by Sanjal Shastri
From the recent string of terror attacks in Beirut to the (alleged) bombing of the Russian airliner in Egypt and the carnage in Paris—all these clearly point to a strong ISIS link. It has now been more than a year since the International Coalition Against the ISIS started their bombing campaign. The debate over escalation of airstrikes and widening the scope of the operation is of great relevance today.
The events of the past week have pushed international public (…)