2018

When the Budget speech of the Finance Minister ended this year, it was clear to most people that the most important measures announced in this speech related to a health insurance scheme for 50 crore people and the raising of the procurement price for a wide range of crops along lines which appeared to be in keeping with the long pending demands of the farmers’ organisations. However, as it was not clear in the Budget speech how much resources have been allocated for this, they searched in (…)

by Bhartendu Kumar Singh
The recent victory by India in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is a significant diplomatic victory, literally erasing the setback on the Masood Azhar case in the UN Security Council (UNSC) a month ago. The ephemeral pleasures notwithstanding, as many as nine members of the UNSC were ganged up against India, including the permanent members and other developed countries until the penultimate round of voting. India, therefore, needs a saleable and sustainable (…)

The present controversy over the powers of the Chief Justice, whether of the Supreme Court or of the High Court to constitute, the Benches of the respective Courts, has more than one dimension. The constitution of benches is undoubtedly an administrative matter and should ordinarily be the privilege of the Chief Justice as the administrative head of the Court. But neither is the Court an administrative institution nor is the power to constitute the Benches, ordinary. The function of the (…)

On January 13, 2018, four Supreme Court of India justices ranked in seniority immediately after the CJI, addressed the media concerning problems within the Supreme Court. Among other things, they asserted that democracy was in danger. Quite naturally, this created a public furore, with articles and statements for and against what the judges had said and also about the propriety or otherwise of their airing matters internal to the apex judiciary.
One may note two important allegations from (…)

by Suranjita Ray
The ‘New India’ that would emerge by 2022 shall be free of communalism, casteism, terrorism, corruption, and nepotism. It is about Shanti, Ekta and Sadbhavana (peace, unity and harmony) and violence in the name of faith is not acceptable. This was unfolded by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on the 70th anniversary of our independence. The major steps towards building a new India were underlined as the biggest strength of democracy. To name a (…)

by D. Raja
India in 2018 confronts mounting challenges of crisis proportions. Such challenges are products of the divide and misrule of the BJP-led NDA regime over a period of three years. Never ever in post-independent India has the country faced such intense and devious polarisation in society the magnitude of which was seen at the time of the partition of India following our independence. The NDA regime is recreating that situation in a calculated manner for political gains and with an (…)

by Ram Puniyani
The BJP, which believes in Hindu nationalism, faces the dilemma about the Indian Constitution. Necessarily it has to pay its obeisance to Indian Constitution for electoral purpose to be sure. It has to seek votes from all sections of society including Dalits and other marginalised segments for whom this Constitution is a liberator. At present, the BJP’s electoral strength is not adequate for changing the Constitution, so it cannot talk openly about the same. In addition the (…)

In the June 5-11, 2009 issue of Mainstream weekly I had concluded that the Naxalite movement in Naxalbari in 1967 was neither a tribal movement nor a peasant movement; it was an ethnic upsurge in which migrant adivasi tea plantation labourers played an active role in grabbing Rajbangshi lands located next to the plantations. But for the present, I have second thoughts about it. When I look into the constitution of the organisations of the plantation labourers, I find very few of them in the (…)

by Gautam Sen
A total of 15.8 million Sri Lankans will vote in the country’s third tier elections on February 10, 2018 to chose 8293 members to 341 local bodies, namely, 24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 276 pradeshiya sabhas or divisional councils. These elections would be within the provisions of Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Act-21 of 2012 and Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act-22 of 2012. A mixed electoral system will be followed wherein, 60 per cent of the (…)

by Binoy Viswam
The reasons are yet unknown but Prime Minister Narendra Modi did open his mouth against the policy of protectionism in the World Economic Forum meet at Davos. Of course without mentioning the US by name he tried to express the resentment of the developing world on the question of protectionism. This change of tone must be part of a calculated move to impress upon the participating nations that India under his rule has the capacity to voice their concerns. In order to add (…)