2022

PRESS RELEASE
18.8.2022
20 YEARS AFTER HORRIFIC GANG-RAPE AND MASS MURDERS IN GUJARAT, ABOUT 6000 CITIZENS SPEAK OUT IN SUPPORT OF
BILKIS BANO’S CONTINUING STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE!
Demand the revocation of the premature release of 11 gang-rapists
and mass murderers in Gujarat.
Appeal to the Supreme Court of India to undo this grave miscarriage of justice.
Call upon citizens to stand with all victims of rape against such an injustice.
Full text of statement (English & Hindi) (…)

A Statement by International Academic Community
We, the undersigned members of the academic community, are deeply disturbed by some of the recent judgements of the Indian Supreme Court, which have a direct bearing on the future of civil liberties and human rights in India. We wish to draw attention, in particular, to the judgement in the Zakia Jafri case, which raises three disturbing questions.
First, since the petitioners had challenged the findings of the SIT report that gave a clean (…)

Book Review __0__ Tears of the Begums: Stories of Survivors of the Uprising of 1857
Khwaja Hasan Nizami Translated by Rana Safvi
Hachette India Paperback ‏ : ‎ 244 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9393701148 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9393701145
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When the British finally reconquered Delhi with the help of loyal Indian troops after the 1857 revolt, the retribution was swift and brutal, without any regard for justice and fair play. Not only were (…)

BOOK REVIEW
__0__ The Matter of Facts: Skepticism, Persuasion, and Evidence in Science
by Gareth Leng, Rhodri Ivor Leng
Cambridge: MIT Press 2020. Illustrations. 376 pp (cloth), ISBN 978-0-262-04388-5; (e-book), ISBN 978-0-262-35828-6.
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Reviewed by Jessica R. Avery (DePaul University)
As the title suggests, Gareth Leng and Rhodri Ivor Leng’s collaborative book, The Matter of Facts: Skepticism, Persuasion, and Evidence in Science, presents an insightful, critical, and (…)

* 75 Years of Independent India | Anil Nauriya
* Tribute: P M Bhargava - an excerpt from his biography | Chandana Chakrabarti
* 10 Year-old Visionary Social Experiment in Rojava Under Threat - A Letter
* Music: Bumpin’ On Sunset | Wes Montgomery

I.
The Soviet Union lasted less than 75 years even if reckoned from 1917.
Independent India has now crossed that threshold and that is a reason for satisfaction.
The Indian experiment has been no less bold than the Soviet if only because the challenges it has faced have been at least equally profound.
Both Russia and India were peasant-based economies when they started out on their new journey, Russia’s in 1917 and India’s in 1947. India was under a full-scale colonialism, alien and (…)

Introduction
India at 75 is a mixed bag of development and missed opportunities. The country has achieved much since Independence but a lot remains to be done to become a developed society. The pandemic has exposed India’s deficiencies in stark terms. The uncivilized conditions of living of a vast majority of the citizens became apparent. According to a Report of Azim Premji University, 90% of the workers said during the lockdown that they did not have enough savings to buy one week of (…)

EXCERPTS FROM Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1981) which delves into the end of British colonial rule in India, Independence, and the tragic partition of 1947
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I was bom in the city of Bombay... once upon a time. No, that won’t do, there’s no getting away from the date: I was born in Doctor Narlikar’s Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947. And the time? The time matters, too. Well then: at night. No, it’s important to be more... On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact. (…)

A tribute to Dr P M Bhargava (22nd Feb 1928 to 1st Aug 2017) - public intellectual, biologist, institution builder, administrator, crusader for scientific temper, and a connoisseur of art on his 5th death anniversary
(Excerpt from Breaking Boundaries a biography of Dr PM Bhargava by Chandana Chakrabarti, under publication)
The year 2017 saw the loss of several stalwarts of Indian science who have not only contributed to science but have led from the front in the propagation of scientific (…)

by Teresa Joseph *
Abstract
The official objectives behind the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign have been clearly spelt out as invoking the feeling of patriotism and promoting awareness about the National Flag. The media overdrive and the exhilaration and exuberance being witnessed as part of the campaign requires some introspection on the issues involved. In the larger context of the historical trajectory of the flag, this article examines the values in effect being promoted through the Har (…)