2018

Noam Chomsky co-authored with Edward S. Herman to write Manufacturing Consent (1988) to uphold the agony of modernity to raise a manufactured consensual social reality keeping at bay the natural voice of protest, The authors lamented how the liberalised regime in the contemporary global order had been incessantly portraying a mystifying peaceful social order. There is a growing crisis looming in different spheres of society: economy, culture, value, politics, morality and perhaps in all (…)

Achilles of the Intellect, however The money-lenders may pretend, Every word you wrote still remains wise To their perfidious argument.
Your fierce laser showed us Who produces wealth, And why those that produce Remain in poor health.
You armed the least with knowledge Of transactions near and far In which we are first robbed. Then drafted into their war.
You showed us how religion— A tool that they employ— Comes to be a succour To the hapless hoi polloi.
Yet, just as god is (…)

The term Naga is shrouded in mysteries. On the one hand you have Naga—naked sadhus, Hindu mendicants who prefer moving virtually naked, except for the loin that covers the ultimatum. On the other hand we have got the Naga peoples inhabiting mainly the hill areas of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh. Some of them are even on the western province of erstwhile Burma, now known as Myanmar. Interestingly a few ethnic tribes in Kampuchea call themselves Nagas.
The Nagas trace their (…)

TRIBUTE
It was more than fifty years ago in the summer of 1967. Some of us, journalists, were sitting at the old Banga Bhavan in New Delhi, conversing with the Food Minister of the newly-installed United Front Government of West Bengal, Sudhin Kumar, belonging to the RCPI. Suddenly, Kumar was summoned by the UF Government’s Deputy CM Jyoti Basu who was in the adjacent room. They had to go out to meet some Union Minister. As one watched Kumar depart, the reporter’s eye did not miss another (…)

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
Rationality has emerged victorious over irrational (and infantile) dogmatism and Left sectarianism at the just-concluded 22nd Congress of the CPI-M. The preposterous idea that an all-in unity of secular and democratic forces to take on the BJP and the Sangh Parivar in the next general elections can be consummated by keeping the Congress out of it, has been decisively rejected. Prakash Karat and his charmed circle within the party fought a last-ditch battle by fielding (…)

by L.K. Sharma
It was a grand family reunion. The head of the family opened her magnificent home for the members coming from all over the world. She won them over by a charming smile and the display of her wealth. Her wish became her command.
The Queen and her government, suspicious of revolutionary fervour, easily convinced the diverse family members that continuity and stability were more desirable. With great foresight, the Queen intervened politically to suggest her successor since (…)

TRIBUTE
by Qurban Ali
Veteran Socialist leader, noted jurist and champion of human rights Justice (retired) Rajindar Sachar passed away in Delhi on April 20, 2018. He was 94. A distinguished advocate for the protection of human rights, and poor, Justice Sachar was a former Chief Justice of Delhi and Sikkim High Courts. He vociferously promoted the cause of human rights and was also head of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). He authored many reports on Kashmir.
Paying (…)

TRIBUTE
Surendra Nihal Singh, who would have turned 89 on April 30, passed away in a New Delhi hospital on Monday, April 16, 2018 due to kidney-related ailments.
Nihal Sigh was, apart from editing two major daily publications, The Statesman and The Indian Express, one of the most distinguished foreign correspondents India has produced. He was the most sought-after foreign affairs expert, having lived and worked as a journalist in Islamabad, Moscow, Singapore and Paris besides New York. (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The talk of polarisation has become very fashionable nowadays. Even Sri S.K. Patil has been talking about it—and many others have been toying with it or dreading its consequences. For a party as amorphous as the Congress, polarisation of political forces can only mean split in the organisation, for the polarised forces inside the Congress will seek to link themselves up with the like-minded forces outside.
Naturally such a prospect can hardly enthuse a Congressman (…)

What kind of land has this become
where little girls can no longer walk and play
safe and free from rapists?
In the mind’s eye of the people
the spokes of the Blue Chakra have come asunder
replaced by the little girl Asifa’s
bloody mutilated vagina.
Just wait and watch
how from it will sprout
waves of fiery blooded lava
drowning in molten moulds
the brazen demons of our times.
Brazen demons: your time is up!
Your time is up!
April 22, 2018 Suhas Borker (…)