2019

A dam discharging water combined with a tall statue of a tall leader is a breath-taking tourist attraction.
As a dam is built, water fills behind it, submerging vast areas. Every being which cannot live under water dies if it does not leave. Those that leave, need a place to which to go. Human society supposedly cares for other humans. So people who live in submergence areas are re-located, resettled, rehabilitated. This has created a new species of humans who are victims of development, (…)

The Development Monthly, Yojana, published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has recently published an issue titled “Resurgent India.” (September 2019) It is claimed in the editorial: India today is consistently progressing and moving forward to attain newer heights in numerous sectors such as infrastructure, innovation, space technology, resource conservation and so on...The wheels of transformation are thus moving towardsparadigms that make the government an “enabler” and (…)

by Bihu Chamadia
Abstract
The ongoing protests in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China began in June 2019 as an agitation against the Extradition Bill. By August it took the shape of a pro-democracy movement. This paper tries to analyse the reasons why the protests have taken the shape of a pro-democracy movement. While comparing the 2019 protests with other previously held protests, it also analyses the differences regarding the 2019 protests.
Introduction (…)

EDITORIAL
Eighteen years have passed since 9/11—the attack on New York’s twin towers by the Taliban of Afghanistan just to demonstrate their power against the world’s most powerful country, the USA. And now 18 years since that fateful day The Times of India published a brilliant editorial page article yesterday pointing to an irony: “America stands ready to restore to power the very forces that gave rise to 9/11”.
The article by the Washington correspondent of the TOI highlights the (…)

by Prem Singh
One important inference that can be drawn from the speeches of the August 30, 2019 rally of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is that the recent bust controversy will be a pivotal issue in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections scheduled to be held on September 12. The dispute will not cease with the announcement of election results. In the late night of August 20-21, 2019, the DUSU President of the ABVP installed the ‘Trimurti’ (three busts) of (…)

by Ram Puniyani
The nationalism, which was at the root of the freedom movement and which is based on inclusive pluralism, is currently under severe strain with the ascendance of the politics of the RSS combine. All the wings of the RSS are actively infiltrating and dominating most of the fields of our social and political life. Running parallel to this is the attempt to create a narrative, which shows the continuum of Hindu nationalism from times immemorial. In constructing this ideology (…)

by Monaem Sarker
The US-China trade war unexpectedly escalated recently when President Trump announced a 15 per cent tariff on $ 300 billion of Chinese imports that had thus far largely avoided becoming tangled up in the trade dispute. In its countermoves, China suspended purchases of US agricultural products and weakened the Chinese currency to make its exports more competitive. Financial markets sold off worldwide after China devalued the yuan. Emerging-market currencies plunged, equity (…)

Sometime ago, I visited several villages and towns in the neighbouring districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka to meet people of Goan origin settled there. During the 16th and 17th centuries thousands of Goans, both Hindus and Christians, left Goa to escape religious and cultural persecution. In Goa, during that period, all possible obstacles were imposed on the practice of the local religions. Moreover, converts to Christianity could not easily change their deep-rooted Indian way of life. (…)

by M.R. Biju and M.R.B. Anantha Padmanabha
Abstract
For the Left parties in Kerala it is the time for a clear introspection. Unless they adopt stringent corrective measures, they may soon be on the road to elimination. Arrogance of some topmost leaders of the Left parties and violence promoted by a section are primarily responsible for their decline in the State. While the Kannur model of violence practised by party workers across the State has had a drastic impact, even other factors (…)

by Ishfaq Majid and Varinder Singh
In 1949, a special provision was added to India’s Constitution providing autonomy to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Article was allowing the State to have its own constitution, a separate flag, and independence over all matters except foreign affairs, defence, and communications. Another provision later added under Article 370 was Article 35A that gives special privileges to permanent residents, including State Government jobs and the exclusive right (…)