2017

TRIBUTE
Russia’s legendary ambassador to India, Alexander Mikhailovich Kadakin, known as Sasha Kadakin to thousands of his admirers, friends, well-wishers and colleagues across the country, passed away on January 26, India’s Republic Day, in a Delhi hospital. The entire conscious life of Kadakin, a great patriot of his country, champion of Indo-Russian friendship and sincere friend of our country, was deeply associated with India. Born in former Soviet republic Moldavia’s capital Kishinev, (…)

A Two-Part Article on Demonetisation-I
The following is a two-part article on demonetisation written by the prominent Marxist-Maoist thinker, Kobad Ghandy, and sent to us for publication in this journal from the Cherlapalli Central Jail, Medchal district, Hyderabad where the author is currently detained. The first part explains that fighting black money was not really the main goal of the government. The second part explores the real objective of demonetisation and the disastrous impact it (…)

Howsoever prudent the Budget, the fact remains that it encourages the status quo. Probably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had the UP elections in view. There is no new text proposal, nor is there any long-term plan of how to collect revenue. The dependence is on indirect taxation and the curtailment of subsidies. There is nothing wrong in resorting to such a method. But the adverse effect is obvious.
Today’s India is crying for jobs. Thousands and thousands of graduates have no (…)

There is confusion as to how the economy is doing under the impact of demonetisation. The Index of Industrial Production rose by 5.7 per cent in November as compared to the decline of 1.8 per cent in October. This was unexpected and has given relief to the government which has been reeling under daily reports of industries and businesses floundering since November 8, when demonetisation was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
sHowever, a report by the State Bank of India, based on a (…)

by Bineet Kaur
India and Afghanistan have close technical, economic, cultural and political relations. The relations between India and Afghanistan can be traced back to the Indus valley civilisation. The relationship is not limited to the governments in New Delhi and Kabul, and has its foundations in the historical contacts and exchanges between the peoples. Following the 9/11 attacks and the resultant US-led war in Afghanistan, the ties between India and Afghanistan grew strong once (…)

IMPRESSIONS
If sloganeering characterised President Donald Trump’s inaugural address, sagacity marked Barack Obama’s farewell address a week earlier. Undoubtedly, it is the Obama pitch that will reverberate in the chambers of history. Uncannily, Obama’s words seemed directed at India though they were meant for the United States. His theme was rather platitu-dinous—the responsibilities of democracy. But isn’t wisdom ultimately a pack of well-minted platitudes? Like, “do unto others as you’d (…)

The communal tension in our neighbour Myanmar between its majority Buddhist population and its Muslim minority of Rohingyas has of late worsened. It was exacerbated by the recent assassination of a prominent Muslim lawyer and an advisor to the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), Mr Ko Ni, while he was waiting for a taxi in broad daylight outside the busy Yangon international airport, on his return from Indonesia. He was returning from Indonesia where he had gone in a delegation to (…)

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
The political drama in Chennai is intensifying. Precisely two months after her mentor J. Jayalalithaa’s death, V.K. Sasikala was unanimously elected leader of the ruling AIADMK’s legislature party on February 5. O. Panneerselvam, who had become the CM in place of Jayalalithaa during the AIADMK supremo’s ailment and continued in that post after Jaya’s demise, had himself proposed Sasikala’s name as the leader of the legislature party; later he cited “personal reasons” for (…)

COMMENTARY
One part of PM Narendra Modi’s speech in the Rajya Sabha during the debate on the motion on the President’s Address to Parliament has caused a veritable political earthquake even if he himself had ridiculed Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that he (Rahul) was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha earlier because if he had spoken it would have resulted in an earthquake.
What did the PM say? He targeted former PM Manmohan Singh saying: “It’s probably the only (…)

The Budget is an instrument of macroeconomic policy first and then anything else. If its aggregate figures are found wanting, its allocations and goals would also not be attained. In times of a shock to the economy, chances that the figures may be incorrect become greater. Assumptions underlying the preparation of the Budget have a high probability of being incorrect. The chances of this turning out to be true become greater if the government does not acknowledge the problem it may have (…)