2018

by Shubham Kumar and Apurva Singh

The word

The editorial on the recently concluded Defence Deal with the USA [

At your birth rose the red star, Unsullied Earth raised her arms, May-skies rang with the Uchchaisrava neigh And the seven Kalpurushes sang a concerted song...
Let riots be sponsored, let blood redden the earth, Let them try to bring death to the country here, there and everywhere,
Let them build a hundred strongholds in cities, on mountains, Comets vanish with the red glow of your star...
We heard a river ran mad in a far-off land, The King’s men tried to stop it with mud, It broke (…)

The following is the press release of a statement by Dr Prem Singh, President of the Socialist Party (India).
The matter of purchase of Rafale fighter aircraft from France has consistently remained within the realm of suspicion. There are allegations that this deal is the largest defence scam so far in India. The Rs 64-crore Bofors gun scam does not stand anywhere in comparison to the Rs 1000-crore scam of the Rafale deal. It is becoming gradually evident by various facts percolating from (…)

by B.K. Pal
In continuation of the

EDITORIAL
Regardless of whatever the country’s major newspapers are seeking to project, the Bharat Bandh call of all the major Opposition parties led by the Congress on September 10 evoked considerable response across the national landscape thus giving ample testimony to the anti-government mood of the public due mainly to the fuel price hike as well as the agrarian distress with the Congress’ propaganda campaign on the issue of graft connected with the Rafale deal also being a (…)

by Harsh Kapoor
In four separate and combined judgments on September 6, 2018, in the Navtej Singh Johar case a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (a colonial era provision from 1860) was discriminatory to the extent that it penalised consensual sex between adults. Chief Justice Dipak Misra introduced the verdict saying: ’vanish, prejudice and embrace inclusion and ensure equal rights’ . . . ’Any discrimination on the basis of (…)

by Monaem Sarker
President Donald Trump’s 20 months in office have aged many Americans at least by a multiple of that length of time.
This week two events provided glimpses of White House staffers in panic mode. First, there were news reports about Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward’s new behind-the-scenes book, Fear, which described a nervous breakdown in the Trump Administration as top aides manoeuvred to prevent the President from taking disastrous and impulsive missteps. We also (…)

PROTESTS IN NEW DELHI AGAINST THE ARRESTS OF ACTIVISTS BY PUNE POLICE
The arrest of five human rights activists on August 28 and the strong condemnation this has invited from a wide spectrum of people all over India may become a landmark in the history of Indian democracy, especially given the judicial proceedings which have been triggered. Some implications of this development have already become clear and more will crystallise as the case unfolds.
The most conspicuous message that has (…)