2019

by R.G. Gidadhubli
On March 9, 2019 the Uzbek judiciary announced punishment of imprisonment to Gulnara Karimova, elder daughter of late Islam Karimov, former President of Uzbekistan, for five years since she has repeatedly violated the Uzbek laws. This hit headlines in the country. Gulnara had the privilege of staying in the presidential palace of Tashkent since Islam Karimov was in power in Uzbekistan for about 27 years since 1989 as the last President of the former Soviet Socialist (…)

TRIBUTE
by Swatahsiddha Sarkar
Least did I expect the person who kept on grilling me around a single point during my Ph.D entrance interview at the Delhi School of Economics (D’School hereafter) to become my supervisor and then a lot more. His persistent point of query during the interview—“are the Gorkhas a community?”—not only allowed me to think and argue with him there at the interview board but also made me realise during my lengthy Ph.D period that I was trying to find an answer to (…)

by Upendra Baxi
The following is the text of the Second Rabi Ray Memorial Lecture. Professor Upendra Baxi was to have delivered the lecture but due to his indisposition which prevented him from attending the memorial meeting in New Delhi, it was read out by Professor Manoranjan Mohanty at the meeting on March 6, 2019.
May I begin by warmly thanking Professor (Dr) Manoranjan Mohanty, the Rabi Ray Memorial Committee and Lohia Academy for their kind invitation to deliver this address (…)

With the campaign for the 17th Lok Sabha polls in full swing, the parties in the electoral fray, primarily the BJP and Congress, are trading charges against each other with gusto.
In the midst of this campaign former Defence Minister and present Goa CM Manohar Parrikar breathed his last on March 16 having lost his year- long battle with pancreatic cancer. He played a major role in building the BJP in the State having been nurtured by the RSS since his youth. And as The Times of India (…)

On the occasion of the eightyeighth anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom on March 23 this year, we are reproducing the following article (published last year in Mainstream) in homage to the legendary revolutionary’s abiding memory. He was executed along with Sukhdev and Rajguru in Lahore on March 23, 1931. He was and remains to this day a source of inspiration for our youth. This article carries excerpts from what Ajoy Ghosh had written in his book, Bhagat Singh and His Comrades (…)

by Mansavi Patyar
India achieved complete emancipation from British rule after a lot of hassle. This struggle for independence was flagged by numerous freedom fighters who not only sacrificed their personal happiness but their precious lives too. They dedicated themselves without even giving a single thought to their personal well-being. Such great leaders not only ensured our freedom but also inspired the youth of the present time. The names of some of such famous leaders are Subhas (…)

by Saurav Kumar Rai
There are several ‘myths’ pertaining to modern Indian history and India’s struggle for independence. While some of these myths were created by the colonial state itself to weaken the ongoing independence movement, some of them were constructed out of vested political interests in post-independence India. One such powerful myth is regarding Mahatma Gandhi’s alleged silence on the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh and his comrades. It should be noted that Bhagat Singh and two of (…)

by Ram Puniyani
Elections in a democracy can rightly be called a festival of the masses. They determine the course of the country in times to come. That is generally the case and Indian democracy has been steering this path, deepening the democratic process so far. It is not that there are no problems. Many issues related to money power, muscle power, EVM machines’ reliability have marred the objectivity of the process. A newer dimension to the hindrance in the march towards a substantive (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following is another piece written by N.C. during the 1965 Indo-Pak War. This constituted the author’s New Delhi Skyline written soon after the ceasefire on September 23, 1965.
An ordeal by fire is not necessarily the best moment to expect a chastened mood in a nation. The upheaval through which New Delhi has just passed could hardly be expected to restore immediately the balance needed for a sternly objective appraisal of the six stormy weeks that preceded the (…)

The heretical political thinker of our time, Michel Foucault, explored the correlation of modern politics and war in his writings. The editors of a recent book on Foucault argued that in re-making politics, the modern age also re-made war. In interpreting Foucault’s writings on war, they observed: “The implication is that war is not simply an attribute of the state but related to historical processes of modern identity formation and the modern constitution of political subjectivity as well.” (…)