2021

Press Release - Kisan Sansad
The Kisan Sansad, which was held on 23rd and 24th of January, 2021 at the Guru Teg Bahadur Memorial at Singhu, Delhi, had a wide variety of participants from different stakeholders in the agri-policy space. Numerous political representatives from across the spectrum, including very senior people such as H. D. Deve Gowda (former Prime Minister of India), Sonia Gandhi (President, Indian National Congress) and Bhupesh Baghel (current Chief Minister, Chattisgarh) (…)

Communist Party of India
January 27, 2021
Press Release
The National Secretariat of the Communist Party of India issued the following statement today (January 27, 2021) urging the government to accept the farmers’ demand and to repeal the farm laws:
The National Secretariat of the Communist Party of India congratulates the farmers and their unions for the successful tractor rally on January 26, 2021, the Republic Day. The ongoing farmers’ agitation has already acquired a Pan-India (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Rajinikant had publicly announced his decision to enter politics, a decision that would have changed Tamil Nadu politics drastically. He was set to reveal the name of his party on December 31. Then he fell ill. Seeing that as an order from God, he said: “I regret to announce that I am not in a position to launch a party.” Why did God ask him to stay off politics when God helped many other stars to get into politics and make history? By the yardsticks other stars (…)

by Suvojit Bagchi
Interview: Ranabir Samaddar
22 Jan 2021
West Bengal is set to witness perhaps the most communally polarised election in 2021 since India’s partition and independence in 1947. Bengal’s society – known for its academic excellence, high cultural achievements and tolerance – is a divisive society today. Why? What polarised the society to this damaging extent or was the society as divisive always as it is in the winter of 2021? Prothom Alo spoke to eminent social (…)

To
The Honourable Chief Justice of India, Supreme Court of India New Delhi,
Sub: Citizens open letter to the Chief Justice regarding delay in listing/hearing important and urgent matters affecting lives of millions of people — denial of justice through delay.
Your Honour,
At the outset, let us point out why common citizens do not talk about the Court’s conduct. Because they fear attracting contempt of court. However, some of us believe that we will be failing in our (…)

by Bharat Dogra & Kumar Gautam
In the initial days of Covid-19 pandemic, it was widely believed that this will have an equal impact on all sections of people, but it soon became evident, particularly after the introduction of lockdowns, that the pandemic is likely to have a much more serious impact on poorer and weaker sections of societies across the globe. As Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General said:
“The COVID-19 pandemic has played an important role in (…)

There is a widespread belief that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased global income inequality, reducing per capita incomes by more in poor countries than in rich. This supposition is reasonable but false. Rich countries have experienced more deaths per head than have poor countries; their better health systems, higher incomes, more capable governments and better preparedness notwithstanding. The US did worse than some rich countries, but better than several others. Countries with more deaths saw larger declines in income. There was thus not only no trade-off between lives and income; fewer deaths meant more income. As a result, per capita incomes fell by more in higher-income countries. Country by country, international income inequality decreased. When countries are weighted by population, international income inequality increased, not because the poorest countries diverged from the richest countries, but because China—no longer a poor country—had few deaths and positive economic growth, pulling it away from poor countries. That these findings are a result of the pandemic is supported by comparing global inequality using IMF forecasts in October 2019 and October 2020.}

by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here by Aakar Patel Westland Publication, 2020 Pages 368 Price 699 Aakar Patel starts his timely and well-researched book Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here with a sentence “Majoritarianism is primitive and easy to do”. He surmises that establishment of Hindu Rashtra, which has only one meaning, that a Kshatriya king should rule the Hindu Rashtra under the supervision of a Brahmin head priest. Such a Hindu (…)

MUSINGS
27 January 2021
With focus on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, I recall my meetings and interview with his close aide, Captain Lakshmi Sahgal. This was in the summer of 2002 when she was named by the Left as its candidate to contest for the post of President of India. She was then around 88 years but looked much younger and fit. One of the reasons for this could be she was busy the entire day. She was vice - president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association. And (…)

by R.G.Gidadhubli
Three decades have passed subsequent to the breakup of the former Soviet Union in December 1991 when five Central Asian States attained their sovereignty. In fact they were the last among the 15 former Soviet Republics to declare their independence. This was mainly because looking back into history they were beneficiaries of seven decades of Communist system of the former Soviet era being transformed from historic backwardness to development, political security, (…)