2019

While most people in our increasingly troubled world are too absorbed in struggles and problems of daily life to find much time for larger issues, there is nevertheless growing realisation that several serious problems are fast getting out of hand to the extent that even the basic life-nurturing conditions of our planet are threatened. Hence clearly there is need for reorganising human life and for this we need some basic values on which common agreement can be reached among a very large (…)

by R.G. Gidadhubli
Russia and Ukraine were brotherly Slavic states with close, cordial and consistent social, economic and political relations for centuries. They were also major economically and strategically powerful Republics of the former Soviet Union. Hence questions arise as to how and why the brotherly relations have turned into hostilities that aggravated in November-December 2018. An effort has been made to examine the major issues in this contribution.
On November 25, 2018 (…)

Trump likes strong leadership, But only from the Right; When it comes to Leftwing dictators, Trump turns democrat.
The man who ordered dismemberment Of a critical journalist— Being friendly with oil and investment— Tops Trump’s approval list.
But Maduro whom the labouring mass support Is a recalcitrant Bartelby; “I would prefer not to” he says “To enslave my economy.”
So much like Gaddafi and Saddam This Maduro Trump must nix By backing convenient quisling Willing to be an Uncle Sam (…)

by Ananya Pathak
The Opposition stood in stark condemnation, as the Triple Talaaq Bill came to be passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, January 3, 2019. The Bill seeks to criminalise the practice of instant triple talaaq among Muslims. Under the law, the act of giving instant talaaq will attract a jail term of upto three years for a husband. The Opposition was demanding that the Bill be referred to a Joint Committee but walked out when its demand could not be met.
The ruling party (…)

by L.K. Sharma
If you hear the rising roar of faith, it is election-time in India. Belief in God is stronger than any political belief. Faith rushes to fill the ideological vacuum and goes on to cleanse politics of the residual ideological content. Religious fervour, injected into a poll campaign, boosts popular interest in elections, promotes identity politics and alters voting preferences. That is why the ruling BJP has made religious polarisation its electoral strategy. It consolidates (…)

The mosque was eloquent History, Everything else was shrouded in mythology.
Yet they, under the spell of fiery oratory, Chose to chase the mirage of a myth, Pull down the building And build hatred in their hearts.
When I, a citizen of this vast land With the pulsating impulse of History behind me, Watched helplessly in speechless agony.
My dreams lie shattered, My country split And its future back to the tribal past.
I know not how to atone for my immoral silence For History shall (…)

EDITORIAL
One had known for quite sometime that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections would witness a no-holds-barred campaign with PM Narendra Modi firmly resolved to stay on in power and the combined Opposition determined to oust him from the office he currently holds. The PM’s speech in the Lok Sabha and Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s address outside Parliament today provided ample testimony of that possibility. Observers anticipate not just that, but increasing prospects of sharp (…)

by Nityananda Ghosh
The sordid drama that started unfolding with a carload of CBI officials appearing out of the blue in front of the Kolkata Police Commissioner’s residence in the city on February 3, 2019, with the attempt to barge into the building turned out to be a massive confrontation between the Centre and the State as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vs the entire Opposition except the CPI-M which chose to isolate itself from the Opposition ranks. The Supreme Court on (…)

MUSINGS
Mamata Banerjee is indeed a fighter. The latest political developments taking off from West Bengal, where she came up with that piercing shrill cry to halt the BJP-RSS moves, is only a continuation of her determined effort to keep the Right-wing at bay, away from wrecking communal strife and havoc in her State.
In fact, in the recently launched book on her, ‘Didi—The Untold Mamata Banerjee (Penguin), author Shutapa Paul focuses on the political graph of Mamata Banerjee writ large (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Imagine all South Indian States uniting on a platform of ethnic difference from the North, as C.N. Annadurai briefly contemplated once upon a time. Something similar is happening in the North-East. Ethnically, culturally and historically, the North-Eastern States have been different from the rest of India. North-Easterners often talked about going to the “mainland” when they meant going to India. The mainlanders, for their part, often referred to the North-Easterners in terms (…)