2015

Commentary
The second visit of Barack Hussein Obama to this country during his presidency—this time as the first US head of state to attend the Republic Day celebrations at the invitation of PM Narendra Damodardas Modi—has predictably generated a lot of hype that has turned into euphoria following reports in our media of a “remarkable breakthrough’’ in operationalising the Indo-US civil nuclear coopera-tion agreement signed more than six years ago by previous dispensations in both the (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Once again the nation celebrates the birthday of our Republic, now crossing the fortyfirst milestone of its eventful career, Beyond the rituals of the occcasion, this time has come in the mind of many of the citizens of the Republic serious premonitions about its durability, whether it has the strength to overcome the challenges that beset it. Never before in these fortyone years since the promulgation of the Republic have its foundations been so badly shaken as they (…)

On the occasion of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 118th birth annivarsary on January 23 this year, we offer our homage to the memory of that indomitable freedom fighter by reproducing excerpts from one of his writings.
A question which many people ask is as to what will happen when the British are forced to leave India. British propaganda has made many people think that without the British there will be anarchy and chaos in India. These people conveniently forget that British occupation (…)

January 30 this year marks the sixtyseventh anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. To mark the occasion we are reproducing the following editorial that appeared in Pakistan Times (January 31, 1948). This was perhaps the best tribute to Gandhiji after his demise written anywhere in the subcontinent. (The writer was one of Pakistan’s most respected and best journalists, Mazhar Ali Khan.) Reproduction of this editorial is warranted in view of the anti-Pakistan sentiments being whipped (…)

by Mridula Mukherjee
As we again approach two historic dates of our history, January 26 and January 30, our thoughts go back to those tumultuous years of the birth of the new nation. Independence in August 1947 was accompanied by widespread civil strife and violence culminating in the irreparable loss caused by the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse, a votary of HinduRashtra who had been associated with the RSS-Hindu Mahasabha strand of politics, just five months later on (…)

DOCUMENT
The following two resolutions were adopted by the 75th Session of the Indian History Congress held at the Academic Staff College, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi last month. These were first passed by the Congress’ Executive Committee on December 29, 2014 and subsequently by the General Body of the IHC on December 30, 2014.
Resolution 1
In Defence of Scientific Method in History
The Indian History Congress throughout its existence has been committed to the cause of (…)

Rarely has an Indian Prime Minister had so tough a job to accomplish at the behest of such breakneck anticipations. Two impatiently imperious mandates —seemingly contradictory but headed toward a familiar convergence—press upon the beleaguered Chief Executive: one calls upon him to privatise with dispatch what remains of publicly owned national wealth, so that the rate of growth of corporate profit is catalysed to an Olympic sprint, and, the second nudges him through one sectarian putsch (…)

History writing has always been a subject of debate and revision. It is an ongoing process and there can be no final writing of history. However, rewriting history for political gains is what one needs to be concerned. The attempts of political parties across ideological divides to make a certain writing of Indian history as dominant not only reflect their narrow political interests but also obstruct any comprehensive understanding of India’s history. In the context of commemorating the (…)

On May 20, 2014 Jitanram Manjhi was sworn in as the 23rd Chief Minister of Bihar. On the previous evening, I received a phone call at Calcutta from Minapur Banglatola, a hamlet in Muzaffarpur district, North Bihar. The caller, one Binda Devi, a Musahar woman, informed me: “Apna aadmi will take over as the Chief Minister of Bihar tomorrow.” Referring to Jitanram Manjhi as apna aadmi in Bihar parlance, she was stating that the leader to occupy the top seat belonged to her caste. The excitement (…)

In the following interview Varadaraja Perumal, the former Chief Minister of the north and east in Sri Lanka, speaks to the Mainstream editor on the significance of the outcome of the recently held Sri Lankan presidential election.
How do you view the outcome of the Sri Lankan presidential election?
VP: On the whole it’s a very progressive change because under Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government the situation was such that the government was ruling with nepotism in a dictatorial way, (…)