2021

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, November 6, 2021
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise announcement at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) UN conference in Glasgow, that India will achieve net-zero emissions of fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2070 and that it would generate 50% of its power from renewable energy by 2030 and so on. Before making such commitments to the world, no discussions on the subject were held in India’s Parliament or with political parties nor any public (…)

The end of mundane innings of Barun Das Gupta screeched a four-decade long association of mine to a permanent halt and Barunda like Jollyda- Jolly Mohan Kaul, an outstanding communist in the pre-split CPI– was a cricket lover who used to be glued to the TV screen during one-day matches. I knew about him as both of us used to write almost regularly for ‘This Fortnight’, edited by Raman Swamy. One day when I was the senior sub-editor of now-defunct Capital Weekly in the very early 1980s, BP (…)

Gautam Navlakha, nearly 70, is one of the oldest of the Bhima Koregaon arrestees, who was shifted to the “Anda Circle” (high security) from the barracks on October 12, 2021. Additionally, his telephone calls to me and his lawyers, his lifeline to the outside world, have been discontinued on the pretext that physical mulaquats have resumed in jail.
I, his partner, Sahba Husain, am over 70, and I live in Delhi. Travelling to Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai frequently to meet him for the alloted (…)

It seems our academic bureaucrats and policymakers have forgotten the basic truth about the experience of learning and unlearning—wonder and awakening, or critical thinking and creative imagination. Or is it that they think that there is nothing beyond hard/technical/’objective’ facts, and every question that confronts a learner ought to have only one ‘correct’ answer? What else do you and I notice in the chronic obsession with the MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) pattern of tests and exams (…)

Introduction
Since the return of commoner Kei Komuro to Japan from the United States after a period of studying law, the talks of his impending wedding with his college girl friend Princess Mako, the eldest granddaughter of Emeritus Emperor Akihito and daughter of his second son Prince Akishino dominated headlines in leading Japanese newspapers. After a wait of three years, finally the two lovebirds tied the knot on 26 October in a simple ceremony devoid of any regalia normally associated (…)

IMPRESSIONS
The greatest cookery advice came from, who else, the Chinese. It said: "Excess marks the amateur; subtlity signals the master chef. No ingredient must yield to another. Each should stand out proud and glorious."
Distilled wisdom, that’s what this is. Food cooked on this principle can only be divine. The validity of the wisdom extends beyond the kitchen. All human activity is subject to the dictum, "subtlity signals the master." When that ingredient goes (…)

by Shweta Prasad *
Abstract The beginning of the COP 26 in Glasgow is a moment to pause for a minute and do a stock-taking of various commitments that need to go into the discussion related to emission cut and maintaining global warming at 1.5 degree. It is also a time to analyze critically the contributions women can make and their journey under the UNFCCC so far. Also, attention should be paid to making various instruments, policies, mechanisms etc. to achieve the gender-just target of (…)

For long Afghanistan scholars had supported the theory, promoted by the Taliban themselves and Pakistan, that their particular brand of jihadism was developed in Afghan refugee camps in Baluchistan. New data brought forward by an Indian scholar have demolished it proving conclusively that it was developed in Afghanistan itself by Afghan madrassas.
Anand Gopal has claimed that at least sixty percent of the Taliban ideology was developed in Afghanistan’s pre-1979 (the year of the Soviet (…)

MUSINGS
3 November 2021
First things first. Salaams and salutes to Captain Virat Kohli. He comes across as a true player and also a committed captain. The manner in which he dealt his team’s defeat in the recent World Cup matches and the way he came to the rescue of his team mate Mohammed Shami, speaks volumes of his upbringing and values.
Sadly, none of the old retired captains and players spoke out. They miss no opportunity grabbing the space on the small screen, throwing (…)

by James M. Dorsey
Oct 30
Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism is having a field day.
Barely three months after the Taliban claimed victory in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the second most populous Muslim-majority state, is moving to join Kabul in becoming an outpost of religious intolerance and Muslim supremacy.
In doing so, Pakistan, alongside Afghanistan, has come down on the side of countries like Turkey and Iran that advocate various forms of political Islam and public adherence to the (…)