2021

by Bhartendu Kumar Singh
Wars and clashes between nations are often contested in terms of cause, consequences and even statistics. Most nations have their own perspectives and interpretations to these conflicts though the truth may be something else! The Galwan valley clashes of 2020 was no different! Thus, while China reluctantly and belatedly accepted the death of four PLA soldiers in recent videos, Russian news agency TASS had earlier confirmed forty-five Chinese soldiers’ death as (…)

by Soumya Dutta *
Ten years ago, on the 11th of March 2011, ‘all hell broke loose’ in the Pacific coast of Japan. A huge Tsunami, triggered by the gigantic ‘Tohuku earthquake’, which swept away towns and villages, also hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants on the coast, overwhelming the ‘defensive sea walls’. What followed is now well known to the whole world, as the live television coverage of the apocalyptic events streamed into all homes around the globe. Three of the six (…)

The budget 2021-21 is broadly in pursuit of Atamnirbhar Bharat (ANB) mission which was announced by the Government in May 2020 with the packages amounting to Rs.27.1 lakh crore including both the monitory and fiscal measures. The slogan of be vocal with local was followed by structural reforms like redefinition of MSMEs, privatization of the Mineral Sector & Public Sector Undertakings, Agriculture and Labour Reforms, one Nation One Ration Card for ease of labour mobility and Production (…)

by V M Mohanraj
Key Words: Mussolini, Fascist, Reformation, Novel, Cardinal, Italy, Socialist, Europe Few are aware that Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was a socialist before his reincarnation as the founder of the fascist party and eventually the dictator of Italy. And fewer still know that during the period of his life when he was a socialist, he edited the party’s mouthpiece and had even authored a novel which I came across by chance. Naturally, therefore, it piqued my curiosity (…)

Reviewed by Enakshi Ganguly *
The Flower Seller of Ganeshpuri by Rashme Sehgal Mahanadi Books. 2020 [ Available via Amazon]
Indians love visiting religious destinations. Pilgrims are invited to explore sacred places. The sacred temple of Swami Nityananda who died in 1961 is located in the small village of Ganeshpri around 80 kilometres north of Mumbai and has emerged as a hub for pilgrims from across the world.
Each of these pilgrim centres has a vast tribe of service providers who (…)

Demands of the Kronstadt Insurgents. February 28, 1921
Demands expressed in the “Resolution of the General Meeting of the Crews of the Ships of the Line, Kronstadt”
Original Source: Pravda o Kronshtadte (Prague: Volia Rossii, 1921), pp. 46-7.
Having heard the report of the representatives of the crews dispatched by the General Meeting of the crews from the ships to Petrograd in order to learn the state of affairs in Petrograd, we decided:
1. In view of the fact that the present (…)

* ’Marry The Rapist, No Sir’ Feminists Call for Chief Justice of India to Step Down
* New Language of Politics of the Left | Arup Kumar Sen
* Message of Chauri Chaura: Violence or Nonviolence ? | Siby K. Joseph
* Democratization in Myanmar and the Rohingya Issue (2011-2021) | Nazia Khan
* Book Review: Indian Left in a Pit - The Way Out? Prof Achin Vanaik Examines | Sukla Sen

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, March 6, 2021
What business does the Chief Justice of India have asking a rape accused in Court whether he would marry the victim? This is shocking, to say the least for people with a democratic & liberal mind-set, but they seem a minority in India today. Such views represent a base misogynist instinct of people in most backward societies. Who gave the Chief Justice the authority to speak like this? Was the consent of the victim sought?. There has (…)

OPEN LETTER FROM FEMINISTS AND WOMEN’S GROUPS
March 2, 2021
To, The Chief Justice of India, Justice S.A. Bobde.
Hon’ble Chief Justice of India,
Shri Sharad Arvind Bobde,
We the representatives of India’s women’s movements and concerned citizens, are appalled and outraged at the remarks made by you during the hearing in Mohit Subhash Chavan vs. The State of Maharashtra & Anr. on 1st March 2021, as reported by the media.
You were hearing the petition for protection from arrest, (…)

On the eve of the assembly elections, West Bengal has witnessed a new development in the domain of politics. The Left-Congress alliance fought the assembly elections in 2016 as a united front. The new development prior to the assembly elections of 2021 is that a new party - Indian Secular Front (ISF) – floated about a month back by a prominent preacher of a well-known religious shrine in Bengal (Furfura Sharif), Abbas Siddiqui, has joined the alliance as a third party. Reportedly, the ISF (…)