2016

TRIBUTE
Prof Randhir Singh, a well-known Marxist activist-intellectual who used to be a teacher at the Department of Political Science in Delhi University, passed away at the age of 94 on January 31, 2016. I had met him for the first time in 1992 when he came to the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. He stood out as someone different as a critical scholar thinking of contemporary issues from within the framework of classical Marxism. In March 2010, a friend of mine from Punjab (…)

by K. Narayana
“I feel ashamed of you now, after all these years of admiration. What is your status and what is Kanhaiya’s level? Why did you go to the airport to receive him?”—complains a well- wisher of mine.
“A person who had praised deshadrohi Afzal Guru, is getting your support! Shame on you!”— another friend of mine expresses his ire.
“You had followed Kanhaiya to the Central University. Did you ever realise what impression it will create?”— one more Leftist friend enquires.
I (…)

Is there a concerted effort by the Sangh Parivar to infiltrate into the realm of higher education in the name of nationalism, culture and indigenous knowledge? In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, higher education was used by the powerful forces of nationalism in the USSR, Germany, Italy and even in Europe and the USA to shape national identities and serve narrow national interests. As a result higher education produced ideologues for Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, Communist Russia and (…)

by Arun Srivastava
A saffron conspiracy has been hatched to divide the country into two segments: the nationals and the anti-nationals. The RSS has been forcibly thrusting its design in the garb of nationalism primarily aimed at silencing the dissenting voices and alternate views. What is worse is that the RSS and BJP have been trying to rewrite the Indian Constitution. Else there was no reason for the BJP to move a resolution at its National Executive meet emphasising that refusing to (…)

by Sonu Trivedi
Having undergone transition from authoritarianism to democracy in 2010, Myanmar’s ‘disciplined’ democracy is on move since the first free and fair democratic elections in 2015 held after a gap of six decades. However, in its current phase of transition, on the one hand it is facing the daunting task of re-building its institutions, while on the other, the forces of the past remain powerful demanding a delicate balancing and thoughtful compromises both from the wielders of (…)

by Pradip Kumar Nath and Hemprabha Chauhan
“Kadaleepali farmer’s suicide still shrouded in mystery”—drew attention of many and revealed the nexus of agrarian crisis, poor governance, assurance of job and, above all, the media’s apathy kowtowing to the crony capitalists’ dictates. This is the story of Harihar Budhia. Age-45 years, Village-Kadaleepali, Block- Barpalli, Dist-Bargarh, Odisha. Known as Budhia, he was the adopted son of Bal Mukund Budhia, his father’s elder brother. On the (…)

TRIBUTE
The is a tribute to the late Prime Minister of Nepal, Sushil Koirala (August 12, 1939-February 9, 2016), by someone who was a close friend and knew him intimately since his days of exile in Varanasi.
Sushil Koirala’s was an extraordinary story where a very transparent, simple, honest to the core and plain person could reach to the position of the Prime Minister as well as an able organiser of the long and tortuous battle against dictatorship and monarchy in Nepal. He learned his (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
April 14 this year marks the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. On this occasion we are reproducing the following piece by N.C. to offer our sincere homage to that towering personality.
The award of the Bharat Ratna posthumously on B.R. Ambedkar raises mixed feelings. No doubt Ambedkar was one of the stalwarts of modern India; the high water-mark of his career was that he contributed most to the drafting of the Indian Constitution and (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Imagine Praveen Togadia becoming the Prime Minister of India. Or Vijay Mallya. That is the kind of scenario that is developing in the US with Donald Trump’s apparently unstoppable race to the White House. He is full of ideological hatreds which he publicly proclaims. And he beats Mallya hollow in exhibitionist flamboyance.
Additionally, he has his own special characte-ristics as well that would be an embarrassment for a US President. He seems to cherish looking buffoonish and (…)

‘Yahapalana’ is a term that has been much in use in Sri Lanka’s political discourse ever since the present government came to power early last year. ‘Yahapalana’ is a Sinhala word, and means ‘good governance’. The Sirisena Government was voted into office in the January 2015 election on a promise of ‘good governance’. But one year down the road, the term has acquired other shades of meaning that are not always complimentary, and sometimes sarcastic.
Like recently, when Sri Lanka had an (…)