2018

Rajindar Sachar, the former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, passed away on April 20; he was 94. His cremation was attended by many of his admirers, as he was a man who always stood by principles and who remained an indefatigable crusader for democratic and human rights. At a time when minority rights have taken such a beating in our country, his passing away is indeed a profound loss for the human rights movement. Sachar was known for his honesty and courage; he took a stand against (…)

IMPRESSIONS
When those who don’t have it in them think they have it in them, it’s sad. Chandra Kumar Bose was a qualified management expert who did well in the Tatas for many years. Then somebody told him that he was not just another Bose but Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s own grand-nephew. Worse, the BJP zeroed in on him, told him how Bengal was waiting for his guidance and leadership. As their nominee for the chief ministership of West Bengal, they fielded him against Mamata Banerji in the (…)

by Prem Singh
He had forbidden us to call him ‘Justice Sachar’. So I began to call him Sachar Saheb. Four days after his death, I have sat down to write this tribute. The personality of Sachar Saheb was like a masterpiece, epic in its dimensions. A classic personality in this absurd period! In a tribute like this, written for the media, there is little scope to remember him in that ethereal form. It could be only an attempt to understand his thoughts, concerns, anxieties and work in a (…)

by Ram Puniyani
Currently there is propaganda from the BJP combine that the Congress is an anti-Hindu party. On every conceivable occasion it states that the Congress is insulting Hinduism. In the wake of the verdict of the Mecca Masjid blast cases as the accused got released, BJP spokespersons went hammer and tongs saying that Rahul Gandhi-Congress have defamed the Hindu religion, they should apologise for that. In the ongoing campaign for the Karnataka elections (2018) the BJP has taken (…)

by Rajaram Panda
Notwithstanding Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s relative success on both the domestic and foreign policy fronts, and the political stability that he provided for sometime to Japan, the fragility of his government has now been exposed following a series of scandals and controversial allegations against some of his Cabinet Ministers and senior government officials. As a result, his popular ratings have faced a hit, with the former Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, even (…)

TRIBUTE
Our sub-continent has lost a great practitioner of people’s theatre, leading light of women’s movement, author, peace activist, a great fighter against Islamic totalitarian regimes in Pakistan and a dear friend. She and her husband were jailed many times by the military regimes in Pakistan. She died early morning on April 25, 2018 after a three-year-long battle with cancer at Lahore. Her burial took place at Lahore on April 26 evening. She is survived by two children and her (…)

by Nayakara Veeresha
“When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensable of duties” —Marquis de Lafayette
India as a republic completed 68 years of parliamentary democracy. In the year 2017 was observed the hundredth anniversary of the revolution in Russia. It is one of the important historical events in modern political upheavals. Under the leadership of Vladimir (…)

by M.A. Sofi
In this completely one-sided and asymmetrical war where you can’t even boast of the minimal war preparedness to stand up to the awesome firepower of your adversary, there is clearly a case for rethinking the strategy. Your adversary can and does take on you to devastating effect, invariably with effortless ease and with minimal collateral damage being caused to life and morale in his camp. It is in the light of these hard facts that the need arises for an urgent effort at (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The gruesome killing of three—a girl and two young men—at Mehrana, a village near Mathura on the UP-Rajasthan border on March 27 has spread shock waves.
The inhumanity of the lynching of the three on the order of the village panchayat brings out the grotesque dimension of the prevailing social inequity in our country. The original report said that the girl had eloped with one of the young men, while the other had helped them to go away. The girl belonged to a Jat (…)

by R.G. Gidadhubli
Among the five Central Asian states (CAS) in the southern underbelly of Russia, Uzbekistan is the most populous with 32 million out of 74 million population of the CAS. In September 2016 Shavkat Mirziyoev took over the presi-dency of Uzbekistan after the death of the authoritarian President, Islam Karimov, who had ruled this predominantly Muslim country for over two decades following the breakup of the former Soviet Union. Mirziyoev is emerging as a popular leader of (…)