2019

The following are excerpts from Delhi-based writer, columinist and journalist Humra Quraishi’s latest book, Kashmir: The Unending Tragedy—Report from the Frontlines, published by Amaryllis (An imprint of Manjul Publising House Private Limited), this year. It is xviii + 309 pages and is priced at Rs 499.
February 14, 2019 saw one of the deadliest terror attacks in J&K when 40 CRPF troopers were killed by a suicide bomber in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. It was shocking and upsetting (…)

by Rajaram Panda
After winning the elections in the Upper House held on July 21, 2019, though he missed the two-thirds majority or super-majority as it is called in Japan, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo acquired some additional political clout to extricate Japan from the trade war he had launched against his country’s neighbour, South Korea. But how did this sudden trade war start and what could be the deeper reasons behind this unpleasant situation? The confrontation was started in early July (…)

At the time of the conquest of Goa by the Portuguese, in the early sixteenth century, Konkani and Marathi were the languages prevailing here. Authors differ in their opinion as to whether both languages were written or Marathi alone was the literary language and Konkani, the spoken language. Noted Goan historian Pandurang Pisurlenkar observes:
“If the language spoken in Goa is Konkani, the literary language of the Goan Hindus is traditionally Marathi. Cunha Rivara and Mons. Sebastiao (…)

by Suhas Borker
S. Jaipal Reddy, veteran parliamentarian and former Union Minister, passed away on July 28, 2019 at Hyderabad. He was 77. This is a tribute to him from a friend, close associate and “comrade-in-arms”.
November 12, 1997. 3.00 pm. Broadcasting House, New Delhi. The Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Gandhiji’s one and only live broadcast on All India Radio is to begin.
On November 12, 1947, Deepawali Day, Gandhiji was scheduled to address more than two lakh refugees (…)

BOOK REVIEW
by Zulafqar Ahmed
India after Modi: Populism and the Right by Ajay Gudavarthy; Delhi: Bloomsbury India; 2019; page 236; Rs 599.
This book gives a comprehensive and insightful understanding about the contemporary politics of India. It is bereft of jargons, lucidly written, and the author has attempted to help understand even the difficult terminologies. This is the first honest and comprehensive account about the rise of populism and Hindutva post-2014 in India.
This book (…)

They are again at you, zooming through the space, to probe you, unclothe you, explore your facade of rocks and dust, to find out if life is there.
You smile at their folly to dismantle your image: a timeless metaphor for ethereal beauty, dressed in the romance of eternity, captivating human mind in a relation of ages.
Sailing in your small silvery barge, you distil fragrance of flowers, weave dreams in youthful eyes, soothe scars of ancient hearts with tender light at breezy night. (…)

EDITORIAL
The battle-lines have clearly being drawn by now. Since the BJP leadership’s surreptitious manner of changing the Constitution—by revoking Articles 370 and 35A—with the country’s President signing the order to that effect and the ruling party using its brute majority in the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha to pass the relevant Bill, the BJP and its Hindu majoritarian allies are on one side and the secular-democrats of all hues determined to preserve country’s diversity, as (…)

by Mustafa Khan
PM Narendra Modi and his group were willing to wound but afraid to strike. That period has ultimately transpired. They have gored into the life-blood that was circulating in Kashmir and had kept it alive for so long. Not any more, now. Nothing major was planned, asseverated the government time and again, and then suddenly this stab in the back! This is a total betrayal of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The spin-off effect is like that of the Duke and the King’s none such (…)

HIROSHIMA DAY (AUGUST 6) SPECIAL ARTICLE
Nuclear weapons have been with us for 74 years. The potential of nuclear weapons to cause catastrophic damage and pose an existential threat to all forms of life is so high that the world should have got rid of these weapons a long time back, but instead what we see in year 2019 is that our world has nearly 1450 nuclear weapons and in several important contexts the threat from these weapons has increased in recent times.
It is true that some years (…)

by Irfan Engineer
A meeting of prominent citizens, professionals and intellectuals from the Muslim community along with some non-Muslim intellectuals under the platform of “Indian Muslims for Democracy” took place at the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai on July 29, 2019. Dr. Farrukh Waris, a retired Principal of Burhani College and social activist, acquainted the group with the objective and purpose of the meeting. The objective of the meeting, as she explained, was (…)