2018

In the debris of the Trump-Putin summit at Helsinki on July 16, the understanding reached on the Syrian conflict stands out as a positive outcome. The steady improvement in the politico-military situation in Syria and the easing of rivalries involving the external parties bears this out. Interestingly, a Xinhua report with Damascus dateline on Sunday (August 5) highlights this happy outcome of the Helsinki summit, citing Syrian experts.
The big picture is that there seems to be an (…)

After being almost ousted from Syria and Iraq, the terrorist organisation, Islamic State (IS), has firmly established itself over a large part of Africa, in two broad belts on either side of the Sahara. The northern one stretches from the Mediterranean, from Egypt to Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. The southern one starts in Somalia, stretches to Kenya, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal.Vast stretches separate its different battlefields.
The conflict is barely reported, though (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Dismantling India: A Four Year Report edited by John Dayal, Leena Dabiru, Shabnam Hashmi; Media House, Delhi; 2018; pages 355; Price: Rs 600.
A recently published 355-page book titled Dismantling India: A Four Year Report with documented accounts, edited by John Dayal, Leena Dabiru and Shabnam Hashmi, gives an insight into the reality of whatever has been happening in our country in the last four years with a definite agenda of the BJP focussed through its governance. The 25 (…)

WOMEN’S WORLD
by Piya Srinivasan
India’s “disturbed areas” have always had a contentious relationship with the state. Women’s bodies often become the surface on which violent practices of nation-making are inscribed in these regions. There is no graver proof of this than the January abduction, gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl from the nomadic Muslim Bakarwal community in Jammu. The crimes involved eight perpetrators including local SPOs Deepak Khajuria and Surinder Kumar, a (…)

by Noor Zaheer
Why is Kashmir burning? How long has it been burning? Who or what ignited the fire? Who is pouring oil on it? And, most importantly, who, if anyone, has tried to control or put out that fire? As far as the Indian narrative is concerned, Kashmir is like any other State, going through the democratic process every five years, forming a government that functions with collaboration from the Centre, devises policies for development and disasters, caters to tourists; in short, it (…)

Why are you here?
I ask a boy from my class
The girl staying opposite me
A student sitting across the table
One from another hostel
“For the tag” is what each one answers.
Why did you trod into these muddy waters?
Why did you lose yourself while finding ‘success’?
Why did you give up everything, including your own spirit?
Why did you let them kill your will and voice?
Why did you become just a number?
Why did you become one of them?
This is a marathon, not a journey (…)

Short Story
by Satyabaani
‘Jazbaat kehte hein, khamoshi mein basar ho jaye,
Dard ki zid hein, ki duniya ko khabar ho jaye’
(poet unknown)
He got up wondering why he was feeling so lousy. He examined his face in the mirror, closely. He had made every attempt to get rid of his beard and exterminate any signs of it cropping up, but despite having shaved carefully he had nicked his left cheek again. He carefully dabbed some eau-de-cologne on it. Then he wet his towel and wiped himself; (…)

by Rajvir S. Dhaka
Although the Right to Information has been declared by the Supreme Court of India, in various judgments, as a right inherent in Article 19(A) of the Fundamental Rights given in the Indian Constitutions, as is evident from the perusal of Aruna Roy and MKSS Collective, The RTI Story (2018), the RTI regime could be institutionalised in India only in 2005 after a long and sustained struggle by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) and the National Campaign for People’s (…)

The following statement was issued by the Editors Guild of India on August 8, 2018.
The Editors Guild of India condemns the manner in which the right to practise free and independent journalism is seen to be undermined by a combination of forces—some media owners’ inability to withstand covert or overt pressures from the political establishment and frequent instances of blocking or interference in the transmission of television content that is seen to be critical of the government.
The (…)

MUSINGS
Last week’s incident in Haryana’s Gurgaon, of a teenaged Muslim boy, Jaffaruddin, subjected to not just communal onslaught but also forcibly pushed into a saloon and his beard shaved off, left me shaken. After all, this incident cannot be viewed in isolation. This entire summer the Muslim population of Gurgaon was apprehensive and worried of offering the Jumma namaaz/Friday prayers. What, with Right-wing goons all set to hound them. In fact, in a couple of places they were openly (…)