2018

The fundamental right to education of all children up to the age of 14 years is enshrined in our Constitution. The State Government must provide the required facilities to the students so that they can exercise this Fundamental Right. Free Education means not merely free from tuition fees but also adequate classrooms and teachers, free uniforms, textbooks and other educational material.
In 2006, the State Government of Goa constituted a committee of educationists chaired by Prof Madhav (…)

by Saumitra Mohan
There was a time when the Indian students pursued education for learning life-skills and acquiring knowledge. The pursuit of learning then was not about mugging facts and information, but was directed to lead the learners to wisdom thereby enriching the entire society. It was a time when none needed government permission for opening an educational institution and when no formal degrees or diplomas were awarded to students by the renowned Gurus through the once famed (…)

MUSINGS
What happens to our 40 lakh human beings! In the latest draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens, names of 40 lakh people are not included. That is, 12 per cent of Assam’s population has been left out!
Though those excluded from the NRC are given a chance to prove their Indian citizenship but this in itself raises pertinent questions—does the government expect socially and economically deprived to have their paperwork all intact and updated? With frequent shifts and (…)

by Prem Singh
Before discussing the complex subject of Opposition unity, it would be appropriate to look at some obvious facts.
Firstly, there exists no opposition to the neo-liberal policies that has prevailed for the past three decades in the country—none at the level of mainstream political parties, none at the level of intellectuals and ‘thinking’ class. Therefore, the process of selling the country’s resources, labour and public sector enterprises/establish-ments to corporate houses (…)

by Anshu Srivastava
Definitions of the new middle classes in India, as elsewhere, are problematic and confusing. Middle classes in India have been often defined by economic criteria alone based on annual household income. In the Euro-American world, especially in the USA and in other affluent countries that have experienced fast social transformations, the middle classes seem ubiquitous. What unites the middle class as a social entity everywhere is its ambiguity. (Saavala, 2011) This (…)

BOOK REVIEW
by Kadayam Subramanian
Sree Narayana Guru: The Perfect Union Buddha and Sankara: A Comprehensive Biography by Asokan Vengassery Krishnan; Konark Publishers Pvt Limited, New Delhi, Seattle; pp. 365; Price: Rs 850.
The author of this book hails from a village in the Kottayam district of Kerala. He took a B.Sc. degree from the University of Kerala and worked in the Education Department of the State. In 1985, however, he went to the US and took an MBA degree. He has worked as (…)

COMMUNICATION
Our erstwhile President Pranab Mukherjee visited the RSS headquarters at Nagpur on June 7, 2018. He did so at the invitation of the RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat. Bhagwat had visited Rashtrapati Bhavan several times when Pranab was the President (and if press reports are not incorrect, he even spent a night there on one occasion as the guest of our former head of state).
Much has been written about his visit to Nagpur after he had demitted the office of the President and (…)

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
The publication of the draft National Register of Citizens of Assam has thrown the State into turmoil. Naturally, because over four million Indian citizens’ names are just not there in the draft Register. They include Bengali Hindus, Bengali Muslims, Nepalis and Indian citizens from other States like UP, Bihar etc., who have been living in Assam for generations. By no stretch of imagination can they be called foreigners or Bangladeshis. Though Union Home Minister Rajnath (…)

The following are excerpts from the letter from prison sent by Nelson Mandela to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations expressing sincere gratitude for the presentation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding for 1979 to him. We are reproducing the excerpts from the letter as a token of our tribute to him on the occasion of his birth centenary on July 18, 2018.
Our people cannot but feel humble, at the same time proud, that one of their number has been selected to (…)

You are just number 466/64 to them
sweeping dusty paths,
tilling and raking the soil of that island.
But you are the strength,
the determination
that flows through the veins of your children
fighting for you,
you and all those numbers.
Yes, with your spade firmly in your hand
till and rake the soil, Mandela,
like your brothers, sisters, sons
and daughters
who toil and sweat for Africa
She is ours
we too shall know no rest
till she comes back to us.
Ilva (…)