2019

by L.K. Sharma
India is a parliamentary democracy though those covering the current election campaign may think that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the presidential candidate. Modi has run a somewhat presidential form of government with a symbolic presence of his Cabinet colleagues. His office has concentrated all power. And neither his party nor its mentor organisation utters a word even when Modi goes against any of their principles or policies.
What are Indian voters discussing? A (…)

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, signed a decree in Moscow on April 12 conferring on Prime Minister Narendra Modi Russia’s highest state award, the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called. This is the highest and oldest state order of Russia, first established in 1698. It was abolished under the Soviet Union but re-established in 1998.
Modi is the first leader from the democratic world to receive the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called. For the beleaguered Indian (…)

A group of over 150 Indian military Veterans wrote a letter to the President of India in his capacity as the Supreme Commander of India’s Armed Forces, expressing their serious concern at the recent rather blatant use by politicians of different parties, of the military, military uniforms or symbols, and actions by military formations or personnel, in their election campaigns.
The Veterans’ concern was that such misuse may affect the secular character of the armed forces which, as is well (…)

TRIBUTE
by Joseph Abraham
K.M Mani, Kerala’s longest serving MLA and Finance Minister, was laid to rest on Thursday (April 15, 2019). With his demise, the remarkable public life of a much-venerated mass leader came to an end. Mani was no run-of-the-mill politician. A master strategist, shrewd tactician, grassroots leader and the ultimate factionalist of one of India’s most enduring regional parties—the Kerala Congress—he leaves a unique political legacy lasting 54 years.
Following the (…)

They are selling death from mobile shops right at your door; buy it, you’ve no choice.
Mercifully prices are low: only the cost of a bullet assuring quick and clean despatch.
You can also get it free: the machete doling it out, a gasping moment, too, for the last dying look
at the hazing landscape: blank, remorseless eyes, vultures hovering overhead, human fragments
diminishing man, and a few stray blooms frightened into colours on roadside shrubberies.
A.K. Das

Writing on his blog ahead of the BJP’s foundation day on April 6, L.K. Advani made a historic intervention in the country’s political climate fraught with polarisation. Sensing a real and present danger to both—the character of the party and the Constitutional Republic (and perhaps in expiation of the indulgent advice he gave Prime Minister Vajpayee in 2002)—Advani has underscored the anxieties prevalent over certain foundational values that go to the heart of the continuance of India as a (…)

by S.S. Sangwan
The genesis of increasing agitations by farmers across India is lower market prices of agricultural commodities especially pulse, oilseed and vegetables in recent years. Lower prices have pushed farmers to precarious situation. The most effected were the 86 per cent small and marginal ones with unviable average holding of 0.51 hectare as per the 2015-16 Agricultural Census. It united the farmers across India, resulting in political debacles and forcing the political parties (…)

Just as elections come and elections go, so do manifestos. They have rarely received wide-spread attention, much less succeed to evoke fierce and widely participated popular debates. However, they too invite their normal comple-ments of bouquets or brickbats. Their influence on vote-garnering remains unsubstantiated but cannot be written-off. For example, the better-off sections who rejoice at even a trivial cut in tax imposts tend to be dismissive, even sarcastic, about any positive offer (…)

by Arun Srivastava
Saffron desperation for a thumpimg win is quite perceptible. Notwithstanding Narendra Modi demonstrating his macho image at the public rallies and displaying his vocal power, the RSS is not sure that he would be able to ensure a thumping win for the party. If the speeches and public comments of former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, the person closer to the RSS, are any indication, it can safely be construed that the RSS does not intend to lose the opportunity to capture power. (…)

by Saumitra Mohan
Dissent and democracy are often considered synonymous in a liberal-democratic social order. It is through open debate and discussion that the huge range of diversity of opinion in a democracy is captured. It is by means of such continuous conversation on relevant issues and contretemps that the real truth comes out. However, many have questioned the putative usefulness of ‘dissent for the sake of dissent’, as without much import.
It is suggested that motivated and (…)