2017

Though many Biblical stories are associated with many animals, it is rare to see an animal elevated to the status of the divine in the Western societies. Why divinity of the cow is unique to India? Cow is not only the main source of nutrition after land and vegetation, it is also the principal means of production in the agricultural village communities in India from time immemorial. The approach of the peasants towards cow was, however, mixed. On the one hand, as a key source of their (…)

by O.P. Jaiswal
We have numerous references of gana-sangha or gana-rajaya in Buddhist, Jain and Greek literature. It was an alternative polity to the kingdom and probably may represent the continuation of an earlier system. Monarchies or hereditary kingdoms were authoritarian in nature, based on the Brahmanical ideology and depriving the overwhelming majority of the masses their surplus and other rights. “In the later vedic age changed socio-economic back-ground sought to do away with the (…)

Nikhil Chakravartty’s nineteenth death anniversary fell on June 27, 2017. On this occasion we are reproducing some write-ups on him by three leading journalists who knew him quite closely and a well-known administrator-cum-parliamentarian with whom N.C. was associated for sometime. These tributes to N.C. appeared in the Mainstream issue of June 29, 2013 that marked N.C.’s fifteenth death anniversary.
Journalists’ Journalist
S. Nihal Singh
Evoking the memory of Nikhilda, as he was (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following open letter to Pravda, the Soviet Communist Party’s daily organ, was written fiftyfive years ago by N.C. as an ‘Indian Marxist’. In the introduction to the letter it was pointed out that the author was an ‘Indian Communist of 20 years membership record’ of the Communist Party. It appeared in Mainstream (November 3, 1962). (It was on that day that N.C. turned 49.) This was a reply to a Pravda editorial, published on October 25, 1962, recommending the (…)

MUSINGS
Something seems to be going wrong. The minority communities of the country have never felt so helpless and insecure ...mind you, their apprehensions and worries are growing with every single day. The Dalits are fuming; detailing the discriminations they face, not overlooking the latest bait thrown their way, adding: ‘Appointing a Dalit at that top slot is akin to putting a man in a golden cage! Can our cries be heard out there!’
And as I’m writing this column on Eid-ul- Fitr, to (…)

COMMUNICATION
Recently at the peak of the heat wave situation I visited several villages of Bundelkhand region to report on the water scarcity and related problems of this region. This region, spread over 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, has often been in news due to its recurring water shortages. I found the water shortage for human beings as well as farm and other animals to be very acute in all the eight villages that I visited.
At the same time, however, people in (…)

EDITORIAL
As we go to press, it has become clear that the country will face yet another presidential election next month. The Opposition parties, as many as 17 of them, decided today to put up, by rare consensus, a Dalit candidate of eminence, Ms Meira Kumar, for the presidential poll against the current Bihar Governor, Ram Nath Kovind, a non-Jatav Dalit, who the BJP had nominated for the post last Monday (June 19) as the ruling NDA’s candidate. So is this a Dalit-versus-Dalit contest for (…)

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has suddenly revived the demand for a separate Gorkhaland and the Darjeeling hills are witnessing widespread violence. GJM supporters have repeatedly clashed with the police, burnt police and government vehicles and set fire to police posts and government offices. Several police personnel have been grievously injured and two GJM workers died of bullet injury, though it is not clear who fired the shots. The police denied having opened fire.
But following the (…)

The following is an open letter of sixtyfive retired officials released on June 12, 2017.
We are a group of retired officers of All India and Central services of different batches, who have worked with the Central and State governments in the course of our careers. We should make it clear that as a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in the credo of impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Indian constitution. A sense of deep disquiet at what has been (…)