2019

‘Little Boy’, ‘Fat Man’: have you ever heard of them? Do they sound like toys: a kind of gadgets in hands?
Look down the memory lane; they typify human ingenuity, pushing to the blur of periphery its face of love, compassion.
Anniversaries are observed, apologies tendered. Yet, missiles fly across the globe; genocides continue unabated
Displaced trains of humanity treading long uncertain way strive for rebuilding, skirting vicissitudes of war, destruction.
A.K. Das

by Apratim Mukarji
The Great Game in Afghanistan, in which the United States has acted as the leader of the team and involves mutually adversarial players like Pakistan and Iran as well as consensually competitive Russia and China, is now converted into an end-game under President Donald Trump. The President has repeatedly declared his firm resolve to get out of the country as quickly as he can manage, and the course of events over the last two years or so confirms this reading of his (…)

On the day Gujarat went to the Lok Sabha polls (April 23, 2019), the Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat Government to pay Rs 50 lakhs as compensation, provide a government job, and “accommodation in a place of her choice” to Bilkis Bano, who was gangraped during the 2002 communal carnage in the State. The three-judge Supreme Court Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Ranjan Gogoi, gave the verdict. Gogoi said: “In today’s world, money is the best healer. We do not know whether it (…)

Girish Mishra was my colleague and friend for over four decades.
A man of dour principle, he sought little for himself by way of preferment from this authority or that, and carried on his singular intellectual crusade on behalf of economic justice for the labouring people of India and against Right-wing, sectarian communalism in artcle after article, book after book.
Originally a member of the Communist Party of India, Girish—son of the redoubtable Congress stalwart, Bhibhuti Mishra, who (…)

TRIBUTE
Economic historian, teacher and author, Dr Girish Mishra breathed his last in New Delhi on April 27, 2019.
An eminent economist-scholar, he taught economics at Kirorimal College, Delhi University for years and generations of students were influenced by his teaching. He also wrote in various Left publications including Mainstream on economic issues and highlighted the importance of the Nehruvian model of economic development while bringing out the fallacies of the neoliberal (…)

The following article is being published on the occasion of May Day 2019.
There has been a growing concern in recent times that the ongoing process of labour reforms may end up significantly reducing and eroding labour rights and some of the positive results achieved after years of struggles may be lost or diluted to a significant extent. Already a series of changes have led to the growing casualisation of the labour force and the share of contract workers is now significantly higher even (…)

by Neha Dabhade
In the build-up to the general elections, the BJP has intensified its campaign to seek support for the elections. One such step is the campaign, “main bhi chowkidar”. This campaign has seen the Prime Minister prefixing the word ‘chowkidar’ to his name in his Twitter profile. The trend caught on with many of his Cabinet and party colleagues following suit. This is a PR manoeuvre to promote the narrative/impression amongst the general public that the BJP Government is (…)

by Mahendra Ved
The BJP has launched an aggressive election campaign on Hindu ‘victimhood’ that requires to be repaired (sic) with attempts to enforce its supremacy over others.
The cradle of at least three and home of many more, India is what it is because of the multiplicity of faiths. Religion and religiosity are integral to its culture that has had a continuity few others have.
Call it mutual ‘tolerance’ or ‘acceptance’, Indians professing different faiths live together despite (…)

The Modi Government caved in under American pressure without even token resistance.
Two countries similarly placed as India with high dependence on Iranian oil—China and Turkey—have shown the grit to stand up to Washington.
Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi travels around the country every day claiming to be the defender of national interests in Pulwama, Balakot, ASAT and so on. But he is keeping a deafening silence on the one issue that has come up in foreign policy that is going (…)

by L.K. Sharma
The strange case of a terror-accused being fielded as a BJP candidate in the parliamentary elections surprised even some party members and saddened many Modi devotees. They fail to appreciate the critical importance of Sadhvi Pragya for the poll campaign driven by Hindu nationalism and for Modi’s own political future.
Prime Minister Naredra Modi’s irresistible rise in politics has been due to his astute understanding of social fault-lines and the weaknesses of his (…)