2019

by P.B. Sawant
The BJP and its Parivar have never accepted our Constitution and have always been seeking a new Constitution whose objectives are exactly opposite to those of the present one and there is no secret about it. The party has always been of, for and by the advanced classes. Consistent with its policy and almost on the eve of the general elections of 2019, it amended the present Constitution and introduced reservations exclusively for the advanced classes by allotting a ten per (…)

by Ram Puniyani
Since the Narendra Modi Government has returned with a thumping majority, any plan of action by the BJP on Kashmir should give due importance to the strengthening of dialogue and deepening of the process of democracy.
After the massive mandate in the 2019 general elections, the Narendra Modi Government is firmly in the saddle again. Now Amit Shah, who seems to be the most powerful person in the BJP after Modi, is the Home Minster. It is expected that he will pay special (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
Autumn has set in—the chinar in its gorgeous robe. But it is an autumn of bitter sorrow for the hapless people of Kashmir. The Valley, which was known as the paradise on earth, has been turned into a trough of hatred, of blood and tears.
On Friday last week the portals of Hazratbal were barred as the Indian Army had laid siege of the mosque complex in pursuit of the militants. To protest against this siege of the holy of holies for every Kashmiri Muslim, the common (…)

by Rajaram Panda
This article was written before the Bishkek Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
Context
The general elections in India conducted in seven phases lasting over 40 days to the 17th Lok Sabha (Lower House) resulted in a resounding victory for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, thereby giving Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi a second tenure in office. There was plenty of acrimony between the contending political (…)

by Sanchita Bhattacharya and Arup Mitra
Resource-intensive growth is not desirable for most of the developing countries as serious trade-offs are involved between the present and future growth outcomes. Non-resource driven growth is the key to economic prosperity and rise in competitiveness and exports. But then the substantial question arises as to what is the driver of non-resource driven growth. One class of literature argues that the only determinant of long-run rate of growth is (…)

by Shamsher Alam
Understanding the Pasmanda and Dalit Muslims
The word ‘Pasmanda’ has a Persian origin. ‘The term pasmanda ... is a combination of two words, pase and manda which when joined together means those who have been left behind. The pasmanda, therefore, are the depressed, the downtrodden and the marginal sections of Indian Muslim society.’ (Alam, 2009:172) According to Ali Anwar, the President of All India Pasmanda Muslims Mahaz, word “pasmanda” should be understood more in (…)

by Mustafa Khan
The death of Dr Payal Tadvi, a second year post-graduate at the Nair Hospital in Mumbai, is regrettable and unfortunate. She was doing her post-graduation and that in itself was enviable because of the difficulty in getting admission. But for her nomadic tribe, reservation of such a coveted opportunity for post-graduation education in a medical course was a matter of envy for others. It was easy to climb the ladder of progress and advancement. Even so that proved a bane for (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Many things will be said, and more remembered in silent wonderment, about Girish Karnad who appeared as one person but was in fact a congregation of identities—actor, playwright, director, essayist and, never forget, Urban Naxal. He was a shaper of his times. He made seminal contributions to the literary heritage of his country and, disturbed by the gathering clouds of sectarianism, turned an activist influential enough to invite death threats. He ignored them.
Girish Karnad (…)

by Shrabana Barua
Introduction
It can be observed that some matters of national security, particularly those involving military action, gain special attention among other national issues most of the time. When a war is fought or a military conflict arises, no matter what the scale of it is, the episode falls under a nationwide scanner and evokes an escalating patriotic fervour that is difficult to escape even for non-partisan observers. The issue is then packed with layers of logic about (…)

EDITORIAL
Lately, the media has become the target of assault by the executive. The cases of NOIDA-based journalist Prashant Kanojia and the editor and head of the NOIDA-based TV channel, Nation Live, are clear pointers to the manner in which the UP Government is seeking to muzzle press freedom since Kanojia and two journalists, Ishita Singh and Anuj Shukla, were arrested on the ground that Kanojia was accused of uploading a post on UP CM Yogi Adityanath on the social media whereas the (…)