2019

COMMUNICATION
Tt was 90 years ago, on September 13, 1929, that Jatindra Nath Das, one of the most courageous and committed freedom fighters of India, breathed his last at Lahore Central Jail after a 63-day fast. This fast was taken up in the company of Shahid Bhagat Singh and other imprisoned revolutionary freedom fighters for ending many-sided injustices to freedom fighters. In the history of the freedom movement of India this fast is remembered for the courage and nobility with which (…)

FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
This article was written by N.C. fortynine years ago as ‘Observer’ in the Political Notebook of Mainstream (May 2, 1970) during the first wave of the Naxalite movement.
The spate of terrorist violence in West Bengal has pin-pointed public attention on what has come to be known as the Naxalite problem. Many so-called specialists on communism have aired very profound views on the nature of this phenomenon and have not hesitated to deliver homilies on how to deal with (…)

by R.G. Gidadhubli
Beatings of the potential independent candidates who are denied to contest in the upcoming election for the 45-seat Moscow City Duma legislature to be held on September 8, 2019 and arrest of over 800 of their supporters by the Moscow Police on August 3, 2019 have hit the headlines in many parts of the world including India. Not only young men but ladies have not been spared in the beatings; that is, those who participated in the protests and demonstrations. This has (…)

by Ganeshdatta Poddar
Contrary to modernity’s belief that with the onward march of science and rationality, and universalisation of liberal values and institutions of liberal democracy, the role of tradition and religion would diminish in public sphere, the forces of unreason and religion have resurfaced all over the world in a big way, albeit in a distorted and ugly form, empty of its spiritual content. Most probably, religion will continue to play an important role in human affairs so (…)

by M.A. Sofi
Following the developments on August 5, 2019 involving the revocation of Articles 370/5A and the bifurcation of the J&K State into Union Territories, Kashmiris have good reasons to contend that they have been betrayed and back-stabbed by the GOI. Not necessarily because it has been done with an eye on changing the demographic pattern of the State so that it ceases to be a Muslim-majority State but mainly because it is least likely to help restore peace and resolve the (…)

EDITORIAL
A month has passed since the complete shut- down in Kashmir accompanying the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution delivering a body blow to the special status of the State that was painstakingly worked out with the purpose of preserving the Kashmiriyat of the people therein (even if it was regrettably substantially eroded over the years, a charge levelled by the active proponents of the Kashmiri public opinion). Despite the Modi-Shah dispensation’s concerted (…)

by Gautam Sen
The final list constituting the National Register of Citizens (NRC), pertaining to the State of Assam, has been published on August 31, 2019. While 311,21,004 persons are included in the NRC, 19,06,657 have been considered ineligible for the purpose. The excluded include family members of former Indian President (late) Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and nearly a lakh Gurkhas long-resident in Assam. This document or database is of enormous significance. This is the first updated NRC (…)

The following is a report by a team of civil rights activists—comprising economist Jean Drèze, CPI-ML leader Kavita Krishnan (representing the All India Progressive Women’s Association), Maimoona Mollah (of the All India Democratic Women’s Association) and Vimal Bhai (of the National Alliance of People’s Movements)—that visited Kashmir lately.
We spent five days (August 9-13, 2019) travelling extensively in Kashmir. Our visit began on August 9, 2019—four days after the Indian Government (…)

COMMUNICATION
I was present at this amazing, historic Press Conference at the Press Club of India, New Delhi, on August 14, 2019 afternoon, by a team just back from its Kashmir visit from August 9 to 13 with its Report on Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 on August 5. The team consisted of Jean Drèze, economist, Maimoona Mollah, CPI-M and AIWDA, Kavita Krishnan, CPI-ML (Maale) and Vimal Bhai, Gandhian and NAPM.
While the Press Club of India permitted this Press Conference from its (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
September 5 this year marked Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan‘s 131st birth anniversary. Every year September 5 is observed as Teacher’s Day in honour of the second President of our Republic since he was a great teacher. This year too Teacher’s Day was observed throughout the country but the focus was on PM Narendra Modi and not on Dr Radhakrishnan. In this background we are carrying the following relevant article by N.C. that appeared in this journal more than 22 years (…)