2021

by Nurul Hassan *
The high voltage 2020 Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) election has witnessed a triangular contest among the candidates of Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was an opportunity for most of the political parties in Assam to substantiate their existential strength on the eve of next Assembly election. The verdict was neither directly based on identity politics nor promulgating ideologies but has changed (…)

February 19, 2021
The Washington-based Quincy Institute, arguably the most intellectually stimulating American think tank nowadays, in its compulsively readable publication Responsible Statecraft featured on Tuesday an investigative report titled Weapons biz bankrolls experts pushing to extend Afghan War, authored by Eli Clifton, noted expert and journalist on US foreign policy.
It was an expose of the interest groups that dominate the narratives on America’s ‘forever wars’. Clifton made (…)

[This poem is composed in the backdrop of interviews given by victims of casual molestation and reported in an article ’How men get away with groping, and women never quite get over it’ published in The Times of India (January 31, 2021)]
Groping without disrobing
is not an assault carnal.
It’s not a big deal!
The voice from the Altar decrees.
Walking, cycling, standing,
or sitting next in the bus,
train, aircraft are prices
to be paid, while growing up
in all avenues of life. (…)

All India Bank Employees’ Association Central Office: “Prabhat Nivas” Regn. No.2037 Singapore Plaza, 164, Linghi Chetty Street, Chennai-600001 Phone: 2535 1522 Fax: 2535 8853 M- 984 00 899 20 Web: www.aibea.in e mail chv.aibea[at]gmail.com 9840089920
Press Release 19-2-2021
By C.H. Venkatachalam, Gen Secretary, All India Bank Employees (…)

Press Release after the webinar: Decoding the Arsenal Report: The Curious Case of Questionable evidence in Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case (Also see below the FAQ by Prof. Jedidiah Crandall)
The NIA’s ’No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude:
February 16, 2021
Youtube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=yT4rnqTxExc On February 10, 2021 the Bhima Koregaon defense team filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the release (…)

Press Release 19th February 2021
Issued by National Alliance of People’s Movements Coalition for Environmental Justice in India People’s Union for Civil Liberties
A group of prominent people, including artists, environmental and social activists, parents, teachers, professionals, adivasis, dalits and farmers, today spoke out against the illegal and disproportionate response of the government in targeting young activists, including Disha Ravi, and the government’s intent to criminalise (…)

Rossen Djagalov. From Internationalism to Postcolonialism: Literature and Cinema between the Second and the Third Worlds. Montreal: McGill-Queen University Press, 2020. 320 pp. $35.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-228-00109-6; $35.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-228-00110-2.
Reviewed by Joshua First (The University of Mississippi) Published on H-Diplo (January, 2021) Commissioned by Seth Offenbach (Bronx Community College, The City University of New York)
Rossen Djagalov begins his book, From (…)

* Dismantling Public Sector and Subverting Welfare State | D Raja
* Union Budget 2021-22: Long on Promises, Short in Content | A Sunil Dharan
* The World May Be Sorry For India | TJS George

The big news on the China India Ladakh Border is of possible military disengagement by the two armies after months of a heavy standoff with the deployment of tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour. News is still trickling in and any sober assessment of the causes, the backstory and the implications will take time.
o o
Another man-made disaster struck the Chamoli district in Uttarakhand Hills on February 7, 2021, this time wiping out the trace of two hydroelectric dams being built (…)

by D Raja
Politics and economics can never be separated. It is political economy which decides and reveals the nature and character of the state of any Nation. The Constitution of our country defines Indian state as a secular state and as a welfare state. The BJP-RSS combine has been aggressively making efforts to subvert the secular state into a theocratic fascist state. The present regime headed by Modi has been subverting the welfare state by dismantling public sector after the (…)