2020

When the village student who daily cycled 20 km. to reach his college in Jalandhar city noticed the respect he got each time when someone introduced him as the nephew of Shahid Bhagat Singh, he wondered what a great man his maternal uncle must have been that so that his very name evoked so much reverence so many years after his martyrdom at a very young age. This strengthened the resolve that he had nurtured from his childhood days—that he will try to understand him and his compatriots and (…)

by N. Linga Murthy, S. Indrakant
Migrant labour in India is an important component of the unorganized, insecure and highly neglected unfortunate labour. Thanks to Covid-19, migrant labour is very much in the news. The time has come when we are forced to think about this neglected section of people in the country. The Indian model of development that had been adopted for the past few decades resulted in the lopsided development of our economy i.e, service sector overtaking both (…)

There is an apprehension that incidences of child labour may increase in the post lockdown period in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Lack of livelihood opportunities and sluggish aggregate demand will make children vulnerable for exploitation. Certain natural disasters are also adding to the already existing precarity.

Abstract
It is considered that Assam is one of the finest hotbeds for all forms of politics. Recently, a portion of people found religious angles in Covid-19 pandemic. Although, the matter of Nizamuddin Markaz has become irrelevant but the stigma speculated by the BJP wouldn’t be possible to scrape easily. Stigmatization of Muslims in Assam is considered as an easier task as Bangladeshi label is already prevalent there. The ongoing onslaught of Covid-19 is an unavoidable challenge for (…)

by Nisha Mishra
With the legislative elections round the corner in Bihar, and the consequent transfer of two health secretaries within a gap of less than two months has raised questions on the health infrastructure of the state. COVID cases tally on July 1 was 10075 has increased to six fold in early week of August with 62031 positive cases. Recently the death of 12 doctors and the undersecretary to Home department, the government of Bihar, has brought to limelight the ineffectiveness of (…)

Viewed “Nasir”, a Tamil movie screened at MAMI on 7th June 2020 on Youtube. Yes, it’s brilliant film. The director Arun Karthick has opted a technique of simple linear narration purposefully that entails mainly two inferences that will be unfolded as this essay moves along. The movie is apparently depicting a quotidian life for one day of a main character who is a simple, common person. The screenplay has very few dialogues as the protagonist goes through motions of daily life in the (…)

One-hundred fifty out of a total of 225 seats in Sri Lanka’s new Parliament---elected on August 5---has turned out to be a dream win few political parties can achieve in a democracy. This is what the two Rajapaksas---President Gotabaya, the younger brother, and Mahinda, the eldest of the four and a former President twice elected to the highest office---achieved on the voting day when 71 per cent of the electorate turned up to exercise their franchise.
The Opposition has virtually ceased to (…)

Lukashenka has been an authoritarian president emerging from his position as the head of a State Farm and has not allowed any opposition to his leadership during the last 26 years. He has neither promoted nor allowed democratic political institutions to emerge in the country even as the main objective of all independent states after the breakup of the Soviet Union was to bring about transition from the former Communist System to political democracy

Brasil Wire, July 20, 2020
Frei Betto is a Brazilian writer, philosopher, liberation theologian, and Dominican friar. Involved in Brazil’s emancipatory struggles for decades, Betto was imprisoned for four years under the Military dictatorship for helping its victims escape abroad. More recently he has been heavily involved in the battle to eradicate hunger in his country. He has made a personal and urgent call to friends of Brazil around the world about what is taking place in the country (…)

Teachers and professors face crackdown as authorities fight for the minds of an antagonistic young generation