2016

by Vivek Kumar Srivastava
Fidel Castro has turned 90 on August 13. He was born in 1926 on the same day at Biran. His life has passed through several phases which are difficult to be comprehended in a few words; still these are divisible into three parts: the first part when he participated in the revolutionary movement in Colombia (1948), Mexico (1955), overthrow of Batista regime (January 1959); the second phase when he was at the helm of the affairs till 2006 when on his 80th birthday he (…)

The British have the reputation of leaving their colonies in a mess when they have to withdraw by force or otherwise. One method they have adopted is to partition the country they have ruled. They did this in Ireland, Palestine-Israel and, of course, India.
This is mid-August 2016 and I recall the conversation I had with Lord Radcliffe who drew the line to divide India into two countries, India and Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, picked him up from the British Bar and had him (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Three landmarks to cover in a single day—that was how some of us spent our fiftieth Independence Day.
The first of the pilgrimage was to the Indo-Pak border post at Wagah to celebrate the anniversary of the freedom at midnight.
Reaching Amritsar by the Shatabdi Express in the late evening of August 14, about a dozen of us led by the President of the Citizens for Democracy, Kuldip Nayar, we were received by a huge crowd at the Amritsar station itself—which included (…)

by D.N. Jha
In the Hindutva historiographical format Bhaarata, that is, India, is timeless: the first man was born here; its people were the authors of the first human civilisation, the Vedic, which is the same as the Indus-Saraswati; they had reached the highest peak of achievement in both the arts and the sciences; and they were were conscious of belonging to the Indian nation, which has existed eternally. Views such as these are churned out of the cultural nationalist mill day in and (…)

There comes a time when one needs to speak; I speak of the Una Independence Day Rally of Dalits, at the end of a 10-day 400-km Dalit Asmita Yatra following a massive Dalit congre-gation at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on July 31.
Whatever one’s political, social or religious preferences, inclinations or beliefs, anybody who has respect for the Constitution of India would welcome the show of strength and combined determination of Dalits congregated from many States at Una. The mass gathering (…)

On August 15, we celebrate the Independence Day. On this day, in 1947, India put an end to colonial rule and affirmed itself as a sovereign and democratic nation.
The colonial rule destroyed the Indian economy and greatly impoverished the people of India. By all accounts, India was a prosperous nation at the onset of Western colonialism. An estimate by the Cambridge historian, Angus Wilson, reveals that in 1700, India’s share of the world income was 22.6 per cent comparable to the entire (…)

MUSINGS
Killings continue in the Kashmir Valley. In just one day, on Tuesday (August 16), another five civilians were killed and 31 injured. Yet the political rulers in New Delhi and Srinagar insist on bypassing this reality. Instead they want to distract and dwell on the happenings in Balochistan and Gilgit.
Its not just the Kashmiris but even the non-Kashmiris are commenting that this blatant U- turn by the government of the day on the Kashmir crisis reeks not just of insensitivity but (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Political lawbreaking of a kind never seen in India before was seen in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh recently. Rioting of a kind never witnessed in Kashmir before is wrecking that State now. These disturbing elements have one common cause: the BJP’s haste in wanting to bring every inch of the country under its uncontested hegemony. Democracy has its ways and means, its checks and balances. But strategists of the ruling dispensation are too impatient to tolerate them. (…)

by Garima Mani Tripathi
When the Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar promulgated the Bihar Excise (Amend-ment) Act (2016) early this year, it was hailed as a milestone step towards prohibition in the poor State. However, the recent amendments take prohibition to an extreme end and make liquor consumption and storage a far more criminal and draconian act. For instance, all adults of a family would be held responsible for the consumption and possession of liquor at home by any member of the (…)

TRIBUTE
by N.V.K. Murthy
Same days ago when I heard about the passing away of Mahasweta Devi, the well-known writer, at the age of 90, I felt that it was the end of an era. Born in 1926,Mahasweta Devi was a noted activist who fought all her life for the rights of tribals in India, and had written extensively about their life and travails. She was one of those who could be called the products of the Gandhi-Nehru era, who were inspired by those two great figures of the time.
Gandhi, who (…)