2021

The following statement was issued today 23rd September, 2021 by the Platform of Central Trade Unions and independent sectoral Federations/Associations
Press Release
September 23, 2021
India Put on Sale by the ruling regime at the Centre
It is the task of the Working Class to Save India!
The so called ‘National Monetisation Pipeline’ (NMP) was announced by the Union Finance Minister on 23 August 2021, to raise Rs 6 lakh crore over the next 4 years. The plan envisages leasing out (…)

La Via Campesina is among scores of other social movements of organized small-scale food producers, workers and indigenous people boycotting the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), slated to take place in New York – September 23rd, 2021. Peoples’ movements are united in condemning the illegitimacy of this ’summit’ and in denouncing the attempt by transnational corporations to usurp the institutional spaces within the United Nations.
Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (…)

by Adam Simpson*
A recent decision by Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) may offer a path to justice for the victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Myanmar. The NUG was formed by elected representatives of the parliament and others who were ousted by the February military coup. On 20 August the NUG announced that it had lodged a declaration with the International Criminal Court (ICC) accepting the court’s jurisdiction with respect to all international crimes (…)

* India-Pakistan Hatred is a Mindset Problem | M R Narayan Swamy
* Nature key to Human Well-Being and Prosperity | KN Ninan
* What is Plaguing the Catholic Church in Kerala? | Chathukulam and Joseph
* The Aesthetics of Silence | Susan Sontag (1967)

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, September 18, 2021
The disturbing trend under the Modi government of using investigating agencies under the central government to go after critics or people out of favour with the government continues. Many observers, human rights groups and even the UN experts have been pointing this out. Recent developments confirm the trend where the Government seems to regularly send in the taxman to unsettle and harass critics —and all at the same time denying any (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Prince Charles has a special valet to squeeze one inch of toothpaste on to his brush every night. There is also a valet to iron his shoe laces every morning.
What a worthless life! You need some flunkey even to put tooth paste on your brush? Does he also brush your teeth while you contemplate how to rule the world? Shoe laces that are ironed everyday are essential for your self-respect?
I didn’t even know that shoe laces could be ironed. No wonder I never (…)

by Jos Chathukulam and Manasi Joseph *
Abstract
While the ‘narcotic jihad’ and ‘love jihad’ appears to be creating more furore at the moment, there are various other factors that are plaguing the Church. This article briefly attempts to analyse the major issues and problems that are haunting the Catholic Church in Kerala. __0__
Introduction
Though Kerala is in the midst of battling Covid 19 and Nipah, it is the controversy over ‘Narcotic Jihad’ that is creating ripples in the (…)

No boat on a choppy Sea of Galilee would have been tossed as violently as the Church in India finds itself shaken today, trying to negotiate its way between competitive political space with Muslims and Hindus in distant Kerala, rampant persecution by non-state actors in the north and central states, its resources constricted by increasingly vindictive state policies, and its institutions, its social face for two centuries, staring at an uncertain future in many regions.
This is perhaps a (…)

I was cursing my luck after encountering young Chinese women tellers at a Hong Kong bank who could neither understand nor speak English. I wanted to convert 900 HK dollars into Indian currency before flying back to Delhi. Just then I saw a South Asian man, in the bank’s blue guard uniform, flash a smile and ask: “Koi problem?” (Is there a problem?)
I heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, I could relate the issue to someone. After hearing me, the man took my HK dollars, went in and, within (…)

by K N Ninan *
With most countries failing to achieve the 20 Aichi Biodiversity targets as stated in the UN’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, attention is focussed on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be unveiled at the COP 15 meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity scheduled to be held in Kunming, China during October 11-15, 2021.
A reality check on the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services depicts a grim picture. According to (…)