2016

When the Prime Minister of the country makes a request to the Law Commission to examine the case of uniform civil code, like many others I wonder whether there are ulterior motives given his commitment to a definite ideology. Modi is a representation and he represents a definite school of thought. When he decides to request the Law Commission to provide him with inputs on the uniform civil code, he may have reasons or a hidden agenda. In the past there have been people with a liberal outlook (…)

by S.N. Sahu
The new National Policy on Education begins its Introduction by referring to the Gurukul System of Education of ancient India which never permitted development of an atmosphere for asking questions and which permitted only a chosen few to get access to education. The Gurukul system smacked of an authoritarian approach where learning was imposed from above without any emphasis on critical enquiry. Therefore, it is not at all appropriate to hark back to the Gurkul system of yore (…)

The Left parties did not do very well in the Assembly elections in West Bengal. Sections among the CPI-M who did not favour any alliance or understanding with the Congress in West Bengal have been quick to blame the debacle on the electoral strategy adopted by the West Bengal unit of the party to strike a ground-level seat-sharing coordination with the Congress. It is widely known that the local unit of the party and the local leadership of the Congress had been keen on such coordination in (…)

by Sanjal Shastri
“Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or Leave the European Union?” While the answer to this question is a mere yes or no, the issues this question throws up are not as straightforward. The referendum challenges the very idea of British national identity. What are the larger social issues the Brexit vote has exposed? How would these issues play out in the months/ years to come? These are the questions this commentary would try to address.
The (…)

BOOK REVIEW
New Songs of the Survivors: The Exodus of Indians from Burma by Yvonne Vaz Ezdani; Speaking Tiger, New Delhi; 2016; price: Rs 350 (paperback).
Human memory of any important incident or event has now become a major source of history. There are pitfalls. Memories may fail. Memories may get clouded by other events thereby distorting memories of the events. In fact, in earlier days history depended entirely on written and/or archeological evidence, references in literature, epics (…)

EDITORIAL
The BJP is clearly on the backfoot. Attacks on minorities and Dalits have recorded a steep rise ever since the BJP-led NDA Government (wherein the BJP enjoys absolute majority) was formed at the Centre in May 2014. Of late Dalits are on the march especially in Gujarat where members of a Dalit family were mercilessly flogged and paraded in Una for skinning a dead cow—the Gujarat bandh, called by Dalit groups to protest against such action by the cow vigilante outfits associated (…)

As the entire world grows increasingly concerned about the rising toll of many-sided violence, three regions have emerged as the biggest areas of concern—West Asia, North Africa and South Asia. In all these three areas, the existing violence is very troubling but the potential of escalation is even more worrying.
Another common factor in these three regions is that while several peace efforts have been made, the overall impact appears to be of one step forward, two steps backward. So some (…)

As the memory of the massacre at Dhaka recedes, examples of bravery are coming to the fore. One of them is that of Faraaz Hossain. He was on a vacation at Dhaka from his college in the US where he was pursuing higher studies. He spent less time at home but used the opportunity to meet his friends from foreign climes at Gulshan’s famous Spanish restaurant, the Holey Artisan Bakery.
When ISIS terrorists struck, Faraaz was having food with his friends at the restaurant. The ISIS killers were (…)

DOCUMENT
Letter to CPI-M Leadership From Irfan Habib and Sayera Habib
The following is the text of the letter written by eminent historian Professor Irfan Habib and his wife Sayera Habib to the CPI-M Polit-Bureau and Central Committee on June 26, 2016. Both have been members of the CPI-M for more than 60 years.
The statement issued by the Central Committee after its deliberations on June 18-20, 2016 deals item-wise with various issues without going into what are the essential features (…)

MUSINGS
War-drumming in Tanzania. War-like situation in the Kashmir Valley. Troops together with security forces not taking on an enemy country but unleashing terror on agitators and mourners participating in the burial procession of Hizbul Mujahedin commander Burhan Wani.
A situation that could have been handled with some level of maturity has gone out of control. No restraint even as reports poured in of heavy casualties—at least 31 killed and a minimum of 1300 grievously injured. (…)