2017

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot hide its anti-Muslim fangs. Instead of building con-sensus behind the candidature of Hamid Ansari for presidentship, the party has appointed its top three leaders to find a candidate who commands the consent of most political parties.
I cannot understand what is wrong with Vice-President Ansari. He has handled the Rajya Sabha extremely well and before that he made the Aligarh Muslim University a really thriving academic institution during his tenure (…)

Dear Pradhan Mantri Ji,
I am writing this letter to draw your attention to the plight of farmers across India, which has resulted in a high level of rural distress, including thousands of suicides by farmers in the past three years. There have been increasing protests by farmers in one State after another, which have been met by your silence and apathy while the State governments of your party have let the police loose on the poor farmers. Six farmers have lost their lives in police firing (…)

Dear Shri Narendra Modiji,
Sub: Unprecedented Agrarian Crisis—Request for urgent special session of Parliament
This is to bring to your attention that the country is facing an unprecedented agrarian crisis. There was famine and drought in some States like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Rayalaseema area of Andhra Pradesh and parts of Odisha, while there is bumper crop in some other areas which is a contrast.
The bumper crop and good yield have become a curse to the peasants. The prices of Onion, (…)

Resentment is growing in Rajasthan and at the national level against some of the most senior, distinguished, selfless social activists being given a prison sentence in a 20-year-old case. The case relates to one of those struggles of Right to Information (RTI) activists in rural Rajasthan which were praised all over the world as pioneering efforts to bring trans-parency and ensure accountability in rural development.
This was a particularly difficult case for RTI activists as a sarpanch, (…)

by Pradeep Nair and Sandeep Sharma
The United States’ ‘Tibetan Policy Act of 2002’, clearly states that ‘the US would support the aspirations of Tibetan people in order to safeguard their distinct identity’. Other provisions which follow speak about the possible monetary assistance to be provided in lieu of attaining the aforesaid objective. This Act, a major piece of Tibet Legislation, was enacted as law by President George W. Bush on September 30, 2002, as part of the US Foreign (…)

Lest We Forget
Fortytwo years ago on June 26, 1975, the Emergency was proclaimed throughout the country as the ruling leadership bared its fangs nakedly displaying its dictatorial proclivities. We present here write-ups and poems that bring back the nightmare of those dark days when our freedom was sought to be snatched away and our voice throttled. —Editor
Emergency: What it meant
Amiya Rao, B.G. Rao
Not a leaf stirs in my kingdom without my leave. See how quiet my people sit. (…)

IMPRESSIONS
In the political universe of India V.P. Singh rose as high as a citizen could—MLA, Chief Minister, Union Finance Minister, Defence Minister, Prime Minister, father of coalition politics. For all that, he was seen as a “failure” because he was a lone crusader against corruption and for social justice; those who disapproved of crusaders were more powerful. The footprints V.P. Singh left on the sands of time were rapidly washed away.
To make it in politics in India, one needs a (…)

In the May 4, 2017 judgement of the Bombay High Court related to the Bilkis Bano gang rape and rape and murder of 14 other family members, including her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Saleha, in her presence during the infamous 2002 Gujarat communal violence, 19 accused were convicted. These included five police officers and two doctors who were acquitted by the Sessions Court in 2008. The role of these officials was to attempt to cover up the crime. This is the first time that in a case (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The Roots of the Emergency
As years pass by, one after the other, the past recedes more and more into distant memory. There are certain events in the life of a nation, as of individuals, to which distance does not lend enchantment to the view. Rather the ugly visage falls into the pattern of historical evolution and lives on as such. One such event in our lifetime, and in our very land, was the Emergency which was promulgated on June 25-26, twenty years ago.
Twenty (…)

by Ahmad Zaboor
The cornerstone of the American Middle-East policy has been its relationship with Israel. Why is it that Israel every time rides roughshod over the Palestinians and virtually listens to no one, not even at times to the, US and goes scot-free every time? The bonding between the two nations is believed to be based on shared interests and the compelling narrative of suffering at the hands of two-legged beasts, as the Palestinians are described by Zionists. However, the overall (…)