2021

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, October 23, 2021
Sections of influential media in India do a disservice to society by not highlighting public issues in a transparent manner and not challenging the public postures of the Government or of powers that be when they appear to be one-sided. The Prime Minister spoke out to commend the Covid-19 vaccination drive reaching the 1 billion mark for the single dose of the covid-19 vaccination but didn’t tell us of the massive health & social (…)

by K N Ninan
Mark Twain, an American writer is credited with popularising a statement rightly or wrongly attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister during 1874 to 1880 which stated that: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics”. Standard textbooks in statistics quote this to introduce students to the subject. Darrell Huff, a journalist wrote a book in 1954 titled ‘How to Lie with Statistics’ which aptly sums up how statistics can be used, misused or (…)

The Pandora Papers, published on October 3, once again expose the illegal activities of the rich and the mighty across the world. The investigation into these papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), is the world’s largest-ever journalistic collaboration. It involved more than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries. They researched and analysed approximately 12 million documents which became available approximately two years back. Their (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Uttar Pradesh is considered India’s lead state. Its size, and Delhi being virtually a geographic part of it could be the main reason. UP does have a hold on Delhi’s affairs in ways no other state has. Some of our great national leaders came from UP, the likes of G. B. Pant, Ram Manohar Lohia, Acharya Narendra Dev, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, not to mention Jawaharlal Nehru.
Compare them with today’s leaders — Yogi Adityhanath, Uma Bharathi, Smriti Irani, Shazia Ilmi. The (…)

Abstract
This article looks at how online dating apps provide opportunities to women to ‘take charge’ sexually but within a wider context of persistent coercion and inequality.
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Introduction
Dating applications, primarily navigated by young adults, have emerged as a new platform to connect and form relationships that may be romantic or sexual, committed or casual in our consumerist society. Tinder, launched in India in 2016 is the most widely used app with 100 million users at (…)

Terror, terrorism, terrorists
Terror is the emotion of “extreme fear” caused by the threat or use of violence. Terror is also an instrument to cause fear, “a weapon of the impotent, the disenfranchised and the unorganized in the face of profound grievance“. Causing extreme fear using the instrument of terror are both age-old.
However, only in recent times has terrorism been defined: “The use of violence or the threat of violence to harm or intimidate civilians for political purposes”; (…)

V D Savarkar who desperately submitted multiple clemency petitions to the British authorities from 1911 onwards for his release from Cellular jail of Andamans was also charged with conspiracy to murder of Mahatma Gandhi and the then Home Minister of India Sardar Patel wrote to Prime Minister Nehru on 27 February 1948 that ““ It was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy ( to murder Gandhi Ji). “ Seventy three years after Sardar Patel’s (…)

by Murari Sharan Verma *
Jaiprakash Narayan was one of the leading lights of India’s freedom movement and an iconic figure in post-independence India. He inspired millions but his ideas also evoked cynicism in several quarters. Ironically, J P has been more pilloried than eulogized and more respected than accepted. But he has an abiding place in the history of Indian political thought. The critics often miss the logical connection in his evolving thoughts and worldviews. Much of the (…)

by Prof Radhakanta Barik
JP Narayan (JP) after leaving his party politics he decided to enjoy his freedom. He felt restricted in his freedom to think and act as free intellectual as a member of the party. He defined it as “freedom of the mind, freedom of spirit’ He left the party and but remained active in public life. He joined the sarvodaya which meant welfare of all. This is a utopian idea guided him for some years. He campaigned for the sarvodaya which demanded the rich to hand (…)

by M.R. Narayan Swamy
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Outcaste Bombay:
City Making and the Politics of the Poor
by Juned Shaikh
Orient BlackSwan
Pages: 226; Price Rs 995
ISBN 9789354420405
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When Bombay expanded in the 19th century from a trading town into a manufacturing hub, it became heavily dependent on cheap labour provided mainly by low caste Hindus. Shudras and Dalits comprised 59-64 percent of Bombay’s population between 1864 and 1881. Many Dalits migrated to the city in the late 19th (…)