2021

Date: 12 November 2021
To: The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Supreme Court of India Tilak Marg New Delhi-110001
Subject: PENDING CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS
Respected Hon’ble Chief Justice of India,
We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens from various fields, approaching you regarding non-listing as also pending adjudication in the Hon’ble Supreme Court on several urgent matters affecting citizen’s fundamental rights, as also matters of national importance.
The recent appointment (…)

New Delhi, November 19, 2021
Press Release
The National Secretariat of the Communist Party of India issued the following statement today (November 19, 2021):
The National Secretariat of the Communist Party of India congratulates the farmers and their organisations for their historic victory which they achieved through a prolonged and determined struggle supported by all sections of society. Their relentless struggle forced the government to repeal farm laws, but it must be ensured that (…)

To celebrate birth anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1998), the Aligarh Muslim University’s alumni who are living in different parts of country including in abroad used to organize a host of academic and literary programmes on 17th October every year to express their tribute. This time while celebrating 204th birth anniversary of Sir Syed (a great educationist, historian and social reformer of 19th century colonial India), the retired Director General of Police(DGP) of Chhattisgarh, (…)

by Carli Pierson
Slowly but steadily, Mexican women are gaining access to legal abortion – despite right-wing politicians and conservative doctors who oppose it
Valeria, a 17-year-old girl skateboarding with her friends on the boardwalk in Veracruz, on the south-eastern coast of Mexico, is enthusiastic about recent legal changes that have decriminalised abortion in her state.
“I totally agree with it. Every woman should be able to decide about her body and not have to go to jail,” she (…)

* Is Vigilantism a form of Terrorism? | S G Vombatkere
* Reading Political Economy with Michael Perelman | Arup Kumar Sen
* Recalling an Episode from Lakhimpur Kheri’s Past History of Protest | Sumanta Banerjee
* Rafale controversy – the mystery deepens | Upal Chakraborty

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, November 13, 2021
The bending of rules and misuse powers by police, enforcement, security agencies, state officials and by ruling politicians are not new but their repeated use is endangering our democracy. Our Government seems not swayed by any criticism local or international in the manner of bringing sweeping national policy measures without consultation, passing of laws without proper parliamentary debate, ‘managing’ of levers of power to protect or (…)

Surveys indicate that instances of vigilante groups taking the law into their own hands for various reasons connected with inter-faith matters, are on the increase. At the same time, terrorism is a subject of daily reportage. Both these matters affect everybody directly or indirectly, and bear discussion.
‘V’ for Vigilantism
A vigilante is “a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal (…)

IMPRESSIONS
"In UP you won’t see a criminal even if you use binoculars." In India you won’t find a criminal making such a claim, but you will find politicians doing it. Hence the amazing assertion made by India’s amazing Home Minister. Are Indians as dumb as he thinks? No one needs binoculars to see how hooligans often rule the roost in UP. This has been the case for quite some time. Who can forget Raja Bhaiya, described by BJP leader Kalyan Singh himself as Kunda Ka Goonda? (…)

Domination of the market in our lifeworld is a given fact in neo-liberal times. The proponents of neo-liberalism preach the doctrine of the market as an axiom.
Michael Perelman, in his seminal book, The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation (Duke University Press, 2000), interrogated the doctrine of the market formulated by the theorists of the Classical Political Economy. He argued: “For more than two centuries, successive (…)

Lakhimpur Kheri, situated in the northern Terai region of Uttar Pradesh and bordering Nepal, has all of a sudden caught the attention of national political parties and media due to the violent clashes there on October 3 during the demonstration of farmers agitating against three unpopular farm laws of the Modi government. The clashes resulted in the killing of eight people, including four farmers, a journalist, and three others, who are being claimed by the BJP as their follower. (…)