2016

We write this in anguish at another alarming spiral of violence in Kashmir, when a discredited old playbook has yet again been deployed to wreak havoc with civilian life.
Kashmir’s escalating violence follows a familiar pattern: a killing, a funeral where rage is vented through slogans and stones, and volleys of lethal gunfire in response. In 2010, this cycle rolled on repeatedly through four months, claiming over 110 lives, mostly of Kashmiri youth, including a number who were too young (…)

by Iftikhar Gilani
Even though the Army has downplayed its prized killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, questions arise as to whether it signals a departure from the age-old counter-insurgency doctrine.
Barring ‘Operation Bluestar’ in 1984, India’s counter-insurgency doctrine, modelled on the pattern of the British doctrine, did not entail hunting the top leadership, fearing emergence of splinter groups, difficult to control later. In contrast, the American way of tackling (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Autumn has set in—the chinar in its gorgeous robe. But it is an autumn of bitter sorrow for the hapless people of Kashmir. The Valley which was known as the paradise on earth has been turned into a trough of hatred, of blood and tears.
On Friday last week the portals of Hazratbal were barred as the Indian Army had laid siege of the mosque complex in pursuit of the militants. To protest against this siege of the holy of holies for every Kashmiri Muslim, the common (…)

by Purusottam Bhattacharya
Turkey has been a nation in turmoil. It is beset with one crisis after another ever since the beginning of the civil war in Syria—with which it shares a border—in March 2011. It has been grappling with the fallout of the Syrian civil war, primarily the influx of millions of Syrian refugees fleeing the wanton brutality at home as also their usage of Turkey as a gateway to Europe, its recent involvement in Syria as a part of the Western (mainly American) strategy (…)

Russian President Vladimir Putin did on Sunday (July 17) what no major Western leader from the NATO member-countries cared to do when he telephoned his Turkish counterpart, Recep Erdogan, to convey his sympathy, goodwill and best wishes for the latter’s success in restoring constitutional order and stability as soon as possible after the attempted coup Friday night (July 15). (Kremlin website)
The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, instead made an overnight air dash to Brussels to have a (…)

by Ram Puniyani
The current times are very disturbing as so many innocent lives are being lost and social resources being destroyed due to the dastardly phenomenon of terror. To cap it all, this phenomenon has been linked to religion in the popular perception. Just during the last two weeks (July 2016) we witnessed with horror the massacre of 49 people at the Pulse club in Orlando, US. This deadly incident had two interpretations, one: that it is an act of Jihadi terror and two: it was (…)

by Pradeep Nair
This article attempts to envision the vivifi-cation of the health sector with the substructure of technological, digital and mobile revolution in the country. The health care sector is the primary service provider and welfare set-up which also contributes largely to the Indian economy in terms of revenue and employment generation. The growing outreach of the digital technology and mobile phones would change the face and scope of the health services and its delivery. It (…)

Several important figures from different walks of life have departed from our midst in the recent past. While remembering them we offer our sincere homage to their abiding memory.

by Dibalok Sen
The forthcoming BRICS summit in Goa and the bilateral Indo-Russian high-level meeting in New Delhi will provide a major opportunity to India to balance its foreign policy course and restore its non-aligned approach to global problems that had suffered erosion due to the present Government of India‘s inclination to align with the US Administration.
Washington’s proposal to New Delhi to join its campaign to contain Beijing can drag India into the vortex of an unncessary (…)

by Debatra Kumar Dey
Bhagat Singh earned immortality in our national annals primarily because he realised that he did not know enough and never got tired of studying more himself plus learning more from others, with whom he and his party differed but without whom he realised the common cause could not be realised. That added confidence to his courage and he became the nation’s martyr-hero.
P.C. Joshi (1969) 1
History leaves ample space for posterity to find alternative and new ways of (…)