2021

* What Ails the Institutions of Higher Learning in Kerala? | Chathukulam and Joseph
* Is The RSS Stronger or Weaker After 100 Years? | Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd
* Studying Rammohun Roy and Karl Marx together and today | Pradip Baksi
* Afghanistan: Saur Revolution & its Immediate Aftermath | Sumit Chakravartty
* Left in France Loses its Bearings Fighting COVID restrictions | Philippe Marlière
* Film: Pirosmani (1969) directed by Giorgi Shengelaia

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, December 18, December 25 2021 (double issue)
Varanasi is the Prime Minister’s parliamentary constituency and that he should take personal interest in a huge multi-million development project to beautify or de-congest the city is normal but for him to turn this into a mega religious show with him personally participating beamed live on national TV is a pretty jarring? On December 13, 2021 we saw the Prime Minister Modi in Varanasi on live TV performing (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Why do so many of our VIPs die in accidents? No one will say that murderous groups are plotting behind the scenes. Almost all the accidents that killed our leaders were truly accidents. Could it be that our planes and choppers suffer from poor maintenance? They are said to be in the best of conditions, maintained by the best of experts. Are there other factors unbeknown to the general public?
Security experts have practices and conventions based on what they (…)

by Pradip Baksi
Why may one study Rammohun Roy (1772-1833), a contemporary of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) while studying Karl Marx (1818-1883) today? Here are some reasons: (1) for investigating the aborted project of political liberalism in India, in an era of ascendant new Indian political barbarism; and, (2) for collecting materials for the unwritten fourth part of Marx’s planned critique of political economy, related to the state(Marx 1859: Foreword, First Sentence). (…)

by Jos Chathukulam and Manasi Joseph
Abstract
Leftist intelligentsia in India have always been portrayed as upholders of academic freedom. The Left academia along with the critics of the current political regime at the Centre have vociferously campaigned against the attempts to scuttle academic freedom in India. However, the recent standoff between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan over political (…)

by P. S. Jayaramu
Results of the elections to 25 seats of the Karnataka Legislative Council from 20 Local Authorities’ Constituencies were announced on 14th December 2021. The BJP and Congress Party had contested from 20 constituencies each and the Janata Dal (S) in 6. Both the BJP and Congress have won 11 seats each. The JD(S) has managed victory in only two constituencies and one seat has been grabbed by the independent candidate, Lakhan Jarkiholi. An analysis of the results from the (…)

The nation witnessed Prime Minister Modi launching in an orchestrated manner on 13th December 2021 the multi million Kashi Corridor project linking banks of Ganga with the shrine of Lord Shiva and providing relatively open space around the place of worship. The high octane publicity, normally avoided by spiritual seekers and pilgrims to the shrine of Kashi, remained central to Modi’s visit to temple of Kashi Viswanath. The demonstrative performance of rituals by him in full glare of the (…)

Now that the Taliban have established their sway over the whole of Afghanistan after capturing the capital, Kabul, I am reminded of the days of 1979 and 1980 when the country was in a different set-up under the impact of the Saur (April) revolution that saw the end of the Zahir Shah and the Daud dynasties and the ushering in of the rule of People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). My first visit to Kabul was in August 1979 when an international peace conference was held in defence of (…)

There is an interesting discussion taking place in a section of the media that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 100 years existence will be celebrated in 2025 like the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its 100 years existence on this planet.No doubt the RSS is also in power at Delhi and in many states, if not exactly like the CPC. The nation knows though a proxy political network, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is said to be in power the actual power operator in India is the RSS. This (…)

MUSINGS
15 December 2021 Christmas is just about a week away but there seems no harnessing of the violent attacks on the Christian community. And not a word of genuine apology from the State functionaries. An immense tragedy for not just the Christian community but for all of us.
There is growing concern about the very notion of our collective togetherness —Will it remain only in the textbooks or along the fairy tale strain? Will it be possible (ethically, that is) for any of the (…)