2017

On August 15, we celebrate the Independence Day. On that day, in 1947, Prime Minister Nehru proclaimed a tryst with destiny, “a moment which comes but rarely in History when we step from the old into the new, when an age ends and the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance”.
The colonial rule destroyed the Indian economy and greatly impoverished the people of India. An estimate by the Cambridge historian Angus Wilson, reveals that in 1700, India’s share of the world income was (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following report by Nikhil Chakravartty, the Calcutta correspondent of People’s Age (published from Bombay), appeared in the weekly’s August 24, 1947 issue (it was wired from Calcutta on August 17, 1947) under the following headlines: ‘End of a Nightmare and Birth of New Dawn!’; ‘Calcutta Transformed by Spirit Of Independence’; ‘Hindus, Muslims Hug Each Other In Wild Joy—Tears Roll Down Where Blood Once Soaked The Streets’.
Frenzy has overtaken Calcutta. It is a (…)

Desh Raj Goyal, 84, passed away in New Delhi after a brief illness in the afternoon of February 3, 2013. A veteran journalist and academic, he was the editor of Secular Democracy. From 1963 to 1967 he edited Mainstream.
Goyal-sahb was a crusader against the growing menace of communalism in the country since he fully comprehended the threat it posed, having himself been a full-time RSS pracharak in his youth. He later eschewed his connections with the RSS and joined the Communist Party. He (…)

Independence celebrations bring to my mind the days I spent in my hometown Sialkot City. After earning the law degree, I was settling to be a lawyer; but partition upset my whole plans. It made me leave the place where I was born and brought up. It’s a sad recollection whenever I think about it.
But the silver lining is that personal relations between Hindus and Muslims were not mostly affected. My father, who practised medicine, was stopped from migrating whenever he thought of moving out (…)

COMMUNICATION
This is with reference to the EPW controversy, narrated by Sankar Ray in Mainstream (August 5, 2017) [‘Communication: More on EPW’ (page 33)]. The author’s value-judgement is much evident in his narrative. One has definitely the right to narrate a controversy according to his understanding of the situation. The problem lies elsewhere. We are yet to know or will never know the in-house parameters of the conflict between the Sameeksha Trust and the Editor as well as between the (…)

by Bihu Chamadia
Starting with Akhlaq, we witnessed umpteen number of incidents of mob lynching across the length and breadth of the country. Recently, A 16-year-old Junaid was killed by the same faceless mob. Two major campaigns against these mob lynchings were initiated, namely, Not in My Name and National Campaign Against Mob Lynching. We see the #notinmyname campaign took place at the national level and attracted many important persons from different walks of life. The campaign was, (…)

by Pritish Acharya
The Paika Revolt was an armed revolt of the traditional Paika militia in the state of Khurda in Odisha in the year 1817. It began in the month of March and sporadically and inter-mittently continued for nearly a year. The revolt had been led by Jagabandhu Bidyadhar Mahapatra, who was traditionally a Buxi, military commander, under the king of Khurda. It had nearly swept away the British in Khurda, Pipili, Banapur and Puri for months before being crushed by the forces of (…)

As we celebrate 70 years of India’s indepen-dence the Christian community has reasons to legitimately feel proud of its contribution to the nation. Both prior and after independence 2.3 per cent of India’s population of Christians have in a significant and unique way contributed to its development. In fact the contribution may be far beyond its numbers both in quality and quantity. In every field of India’s development especially in the realm of the development of the poor the Church has (…)

by Bharat Dogra, Jagmohan Singh
The freedom movement of India is a vast saga of great sacrifices, very inspiring courage and an overwhelming commitment to securing liberty from the bondage of colonial rule, a commitment which enabled a very large number of freedom fighters to endure the greatest hardships for long periods without wavering from their firm commitment. This will always remain a source of great inspiration for persons and groups who want to devote their life to a higher cause. (…)

The following is the speech of CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury in the Rajya Sabha on July 19, 2017 during the short-duration discussion on the situation arising out of the reported increase in incidents of lynching and atrocities on minorities and Dalits across the county.
Sir, I am rising to speak with a very heavy heart and also in the background of what happened in the House just now. Sir, the sort of atmosphere that we have seen here does not augur well for our parliamentary (…)