2017

COMMUNICATION
The Hindu reported on October 6, quoting official sources, that 11 farmers and farm workers had died at the VNGMC Hospital in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra due to exposure to pesticides during the last five weeks while over 472 farmers have been admitted to the hospital for the same pesticide-related health problems during the last three months. Five farmers remained critical on life-support systems.
Earlier The Times of India had reported the number of pesticide (…)

EDITORIAL
As the protests over the screening of the controversial film Padmavati show no signs of abating, with Congress-ruled Punjab (led by CM Amarinder Singh) joining three BJP-run States of Madhya Pradesh (under CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan), UP (under CM Yogi Adityanath) and Rajasthan (under CM Vasundhara Raje) in banning the public viewing of the film, the producer of the Sanjay Bhansali-directed movie (featuring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh), Viacom 18 Motion (…)

TRIBUTE
Among the ‘Young Turks’ who came into prominence during Indira Gandhi’s moves to rejuvenate the Congress after the party’s 1967 electoral debacle across the country, two were most noteworthy—one came from Kerala and the other from West Bengal: A.K. Antony and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi. They were the two young Congress leaders who helped to revive the party in the two States known to be citadels of the Left. And they were assisted in large measure in that task by Indira Gandhi’s (…)

The press has been able to consolidate its freedom after several struggles. And today it is generally free from the government pressure. There are still other forces which do not allow it to be completely free. Yet among all the democracies in the world, the Indian press is considered independent.
The electronic media is to a large extent at the mercy of estate owners who earn money through property dealings and spend it on maintaining a channel or two. This cannot be, however, said about (…)

TRIBUTE
by R. Mahalakshmi
The passing away of Professor Satish Chandra (November 20, 1922-October 13, 2017) has left a void not only in the world of historical scholarship but also in the academic community as a whole.
A meticulous scholar, fearless intellectual and warm human being, Prof Chandra touched the lives of thousands of people over the last seven decades. His textbook for the NCERT, meant for students of classes XI and XII, had schooled the future citizens from the 1970s to (…)

On November 27 this year falls the nineteenth death anniversary of distinguished administrator P.N. Haksar, one of the country’s foremost thinkers. [He passed away on November 27, 1998, precisely five months after N.C., who was close to him in his thinking, breathed his last.] On this occasion we remember him by reproducing an article he wrote in Man and Development (Vol. XIII, No. 4, December 1991), the journal he edited.
In the charmed world of Alice in Wonderland, words can be made to (…)

by A.V.V.S.K. Rao
Democracy demands Discipline, Tolerance and Mutual Regard. — Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (First Prime Minsiter of India)
“Democracy and Socialism are means to End not the End itself.” —Jawaharlal Nehru
Introduction
The ideas expressed in this short paper are in the form of reflections on some of the dominant ideas of Jawaharlal Nehru on democracy and development in independent India.
These are evident in India’s pre-colonial ‘Village Republics’ and tradition of (…)

by N. Sundaramurthy
Trade unions are perceived as cradles of socialism. By ideology, trade unions fight for the establishment of an egalitarian society. I believe that trade unions have a role in social transformation. A trade union movement is undoubtedly a mass movement. And the rule generally followed is “maximum good for the maximum number”! The corollary is, if the trade movement has to succeed, its agenda should be seen and accepted as the agenda of the people—the common masses. In (…)

COMMUNICATION
According to the WHO status report on health and alcohol (2014), in 2012 about 3.3 million net deaths or 5.9 per cent of all global deaths were attributable to alcohol consumption — 7.6 per cent for males and four per cent for females. In 2012, 139 million net DALYs (disability adjusted life years) or 5.1 per cent of the global burden of disease and injury was attributable to alcohol consumption.
The same report has pointed out that the harmful use of alcohol is a component (…)

by Jayanta Kumar Ghosal
The toiling and oppressed mankind all over the world are observing the centenary of the epoch making ‘Ten Days that Shook the World’ in October (November) 1917. The event was in many respects unique in the history of mankind. Guided by the Marxist ideology, the revolution had a clear vision of creating a society free from class exploitation led by workers, peasants and other exploited sections. It left a lasting effect on the minds of humanity as the scenario (…)