2022

Special for Mainstream
updated on June 24, 2022
While in Rome during his visit to Italy on the invitation of the World Food Program (WFP), for sharing the transformative initiatives of Odisha in the field of food security and disaster management Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the MG Memorial Statue at the Plazza Gandhi in the city and called on Pope Francis in Vatican City on June 22, 2022. He met the Pope seven months after providing monetary (…)

* Jammu and Kashmir: ‘Muscular Policy’ or Policy Paralysis | M A Sofi
* Naga National Assembly: Foreboding of a cold Peace | Kumar Sanjay Singh
* Inside a reintegration camp for Colombia’s ex-guerrilla fighters | Gomez & Hart

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, June 18 & June 25, 2022
Over the past years, credible commentators have repeatedly pointed out the limited job creation and a precarious labour market with a shrinking number of secure long-term jobs and the worrying prospect of social tensions due to growing unemployment. A few months ago there had been protests by the unemployed in the states of Bihar and UP over changes in recruitment procedures in the Railways. The simmering tensions over jobs (…)

IMPRESSIONS
All good things must come to an end. This column started appearing as an Express feature in 1997. It has been going on without a break for a quarter century. That is a long run, a real long run. A year’s 52 weeks multiplied by 25 means that a jaw-dropping 1300 installments of the column have appeared under the "Point of View" title.
There were of course problems along the way. But they did not affect the flow. The call of duty always won. For those whose profession (…)

by M A Sofi
Those having the good fortune of living their lives in relative peace away from ground zero in a conflict zone, have no idea of how people living their lives there under the permanent shadow of gun have to contend with so much uncertainty, unpredictability, insecurity and violence on a routine basis. Come to think of it, the news involving someone being caught in a cross fire, or of someone having been picked up by the police from his office or residence or maimed or killed (…)

by Kumar Sanjay Singh *
Convening of the Emergency National Assembly on 31 May 2022 marks the apogee of the most torrid fortnight of the talks. Apparently, the fraught issue of Naga flag and constitution is at the root of the current instability. That trust has been a casualty is borne out in the statements of those involved in peace negotiations. Acknowledging that something’s amiss with the official channel of communication, the core committee of the parliamentary committee on Naga (…)

by Radhakanta Barik *
Rahul Gandhi the leader of the Congress Party and has a deep understanding of the social and economic problems of the Indian people. He is able to interact with the leading economists including the Nobel Laureates and he is able to interact with thinkers and industrialists without fearing Modi. Modi is just the opposite who is scared of scholars and thinkers as he branded them as ’Hard work vs Harvard.’ He raises a point in his twitter regarding India is going on the (…)

About a dozen retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts along with noted jurists have written to the Chief Justice of India N.V.Ramanna urging the Supreme Court to take Suo Motu cognizance of Uttar Pradesh state government perpetrating violence and repression on a section of its citizens who protested the remarks made against Prophet Mohammad by BJP office bearers.
The signatories to this petition include Justices (retired) B. Sudarshan Reddy, V. Gopala Gowda and A.K. Ganguly; (…)

by P. S. Jayaramu
16th June, 2022
Siddaramaiah, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka and presently Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, is a down to earth politician with secular and socialist credentials. He has his eyes and ears focused very much on the politics of the state, so much so that he has twice rejected Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s invitation to move to national arena.
Siddaramaiah entered the Karnataka Assembly in 1983, having contested on Bharathiya Lok Dal (…)

The repeatedly tried measure by certain master-strategists of provoking communal tension, dividing votes along religious lines, polarising vote-banks for electoral gains appears to have backfired considerably this time. Yes, this refers to socio-political and diplomatic reaction to Nupur Sharma’s objectionable comments. Till recently, Nupur- former BJP spokesperson- was hardly known in national and international circles. Now, her “popularity