2016

From N.C.’s Writings
This article, which brings into focus the Third World stalwarts who attended the Seventh NAM Summit in New Delhi in March 1983, is being reproduced after almost 34 years to recall the rich tributes paid by N.C. to the outstanding Cuban leader Fidel Castro who was a magnetic personality at that remarkable gathering of numerous heads of state and government.
Men and Mountains
“The Conference is over. The concord must endure.” With these words, almost Biblical in (…)

Professor M.G.K. Menon, 88, who passed away in the Capital on November 22, 2016, has been described by his grand-nephew Himadri Gupta, a senior lecturer of bio-materials, School of Engineering Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, as “both a brilliant high energy particle physicist and an institution-builder of Indian science“—one of those responsible for building a world-class scientific industrial complex right from the early years after independence.
And Commodore C. Uday (…)

by Saumitra Mohan
A slew of incidents in recent times have again adumbrated an increasing intolerance in the country, the intolerance of opposition to established wisdom, intolerance of contrarian views or intolerance of standing against the societal consensus. The same has been noticed more starkly in the aftermath of the recent surgical strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. As Indians, we all loved the way our valiant and fearless armed forces crossed over to teach our western neighbour (…)

The Dawn is a fairly respected newspaper in the subcontinent. It was founded by Qaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah at Daryaganj in New Delhi to propagate his cause of Pakistan. When Pakistan was founded The Dawn started appearing from Karachi. Since then, the newspaper has continued its publication from there.
It recently carried a story on the growing differences between the military and the civil government. The perturbed Nawaz Sharif Government wanted the paper to disclose the source of (…)

by Anshuman Gupta
Delhi is increasingly becoming a difficult place to live in with increasing levels of pollution there. It has been manifested with the recent blanket of thick haze at the onset of winter. This is in spite of the tough measures taken by the Delhi Government under the leadership of Mr Kejriwal during the last one year or so. He started the odd-even scheme at the risk of losing his popularity as a result of the inconveniences it caused to the citizens of Delhi. However, it (…)

The Myanmar (Burmese) Army has stopped Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming the President of the country in spite of her party, the National League for Democracy, winning the country’s general elections in November last by a landslide. The Army continues to retain control of the country’s powerful Ministries of Defence, Border Affairs and Interior. Ms Suu Kyi is described as the State Councillor. The government, which has 36 Ministries, wants to merge them into 21 to create a streamlined (…)

There is no doubt that despite many infirmities the Indian Constitution, as framed by the Constituent Assembly (CA) of India on November 26, 1949, was a fine document of liberal democracy. Its emphasis on an all-inclusive polity assuring social, political and economic justice was, in fact, a continuation of the anti-imperialist legacy. But the Indian Constitution today faces the most critical challenge to its existence. It is true that ruling parties before the enthronement of the Modi (…)

Noted journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, 72, passed away in Pune on November 25, 2016.
In a message President Pranab Mukherjee wrote: “Shri Padgaonkar was a scholar, columnist and editor who maintained the highest standards of journalism throughout his career.”
Mourning his death the Editors Guild of India, in a press release, stated: “Padgaonkar began his journalistic career as the Paris correspondent of The Times of India in 1968 and after serving in various capicities was appointed in 1988 (…)

by Arup Kumar Sen
The demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee currency notes by the Modi Government is an unique event in the history of monetary policy in post-colonial India. It should be mentioned in this connection that at the time of demonetisation, Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes comprised about 85 per cent of the total value of currency in circulation in India. In his demonetisation speech, Narendra Modi justified this measure in the name of the ‘common man’. To put it in the words of Modi, (…)

by Sanjay Mishra
The election to the Assembly of Uttar Pradesh, slated for the first half of next year, promises to be a high-pitched, high-stake electoral battle. It is an important election for all the stakeholders in the fray— principally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Samajvadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and of course the Congress. Its political importance stems from the fact that this bell-wether State, even in its truncated form post the formation of (…)