2021

30 March 2021
Appeal for Immediate Bail to 84-year Old Stan Swamy
We, the undersigned, are shocked by the rejection of a bail application filed by Stan Swamy in the Bhima Koregaon case by the special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court on 22 March 2021. He was arrested on 8 October 2020 and continues to languish in jail.
Eighty-four-year old Stan Swamy is a Parkinson’s disease patient with severe tremors in both hands. He has trouble drinking from a glass, taking bath and washing (…)

by Bhartendu Kumar Singh *
India’s national security discourse, by and large, is monopolised by Delhi-based intellectuals and think-tanks. However, if the Commanders’ Conference of the armed forces being held in different parts of last few years (including the recent one held at Kevadia in Gujarat) is any indication, the new public policy imperative seems to reduce Delhi’s influence and proliferate national security culture and consciousness across the country’s geographical spectrum. The (…)

While surely the main concerns of the Hindi film industry have always related to entertainment as business, nevertheless there has been generally a significant space also for taking up and promoting issues of high social concern.
Such a space may have been more in the early post-independence years and may have decreased with the passage of time, but surely such concerns have always been there. However in more recent times, there seems to have been a sudden drought of any outstanding films (…)

by Minakshi Biswas*
The past few decades have witnessed a major shift with respect to care giving in general and for the elderly in particular. The onus of care giving previously rested upon the family. Within the family, the women being relegated to the private sphere were expected to perform the role of caregivers. Along with many other tasks to do with domestic chores, like performing household duties, nurturing and rearing children, they also played the role of caregivers for the (…)

by Dr. Ashok Kumar Sahay and Prabira Sethy *
Introduction:
The Covid 19 Pandemic has affected Elderly people a lot. Because they need special attention as well as care in terms of health, love, and affection from the Government, families, and societies.
Older persons are particularly susceptible to the risk of infection from COVID-19, especially those with chronic health conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Older persons are not just (…)

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Myanmar: Top UN officials condemn “systematic” attacks on peaceful protesters, and flag international responsibility to protect the people from atrocity crimes
Joint Statement by Alice Wairimu Nderitu, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, and Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the situation in Myanmar
NEW YORK/GENEVA (28 March 2021) – The UN Special Adviser on the (…)

It is now over a month that the Burmese (Myanmar) army is out on its streets shooting its people who are all on strike, demanding restoration of its civilian rule, which the army had brought to an end in the beginning of last month. Over 300 people have been killed by the Army, called Tatmadaw, so far, after ousting its elected civilian government of Aung San Su Chi. The people have not given up their struggle against military rule. Before that only one community, the Rohingyas, were in (…)

by Lisa Brooten*
Two months after Myanmar’s coup, the country’s civil disobedience movement is awe-inspiring in its resilience against vicious military crackdowns. According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, as of 24 March, 286 people have been killed and 2906 arrested, charged or sentenced. Despite this heavy price, the civil disobedience movement’s effectiveness is unprecedented. But its unity is not solely due to the current crisis, widespread hatred for the Myanmar (…)

by Murzban Jal
Not only in its answers, in its questions there was a mystification. —Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The German Ideology.
Abraham Josef’s article ‘Dialectical Materialism: The People’s Philosophy’ that recalls philosophy, not merely any philosophy, but Marxist philosophy is indeed refreshing for not only the votary of Marxism, but to any sensible fighter for democracy and seeker of knowledge. It is refreshing because for decades we were bombarded with concepts like (…)

by Sujit Chakraborty
On May 30, 1990, at Bantala, off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, on the way to the delta, three women health officers were raped and lynched when their car was trapped by a crowd of hoods. One of the ladies and the driver of their car died. Police and the state government gave out the story that the team was suspected of being child-lifters. The mainstream media in Calcutta conveniently nodded the same story. But was it so simple? A rather scary investigation later (…)