2022

The Speaker of Karnataka Assembly announced from the Chair the other day, “Our RSS”. A minister taking the cue mocked the Congress leader saying it will soon be your RSS. Another minister of the BJP government in the state stood up to declare, the day is not far when every Muslim and Christian in the country will join the RSS. Is it an invitation, or a threat? Difficult to say.
The defeat of secular democratic forces in the just concluded elections to five state assemblies has emboldened (…)

by Sandeep Pandey, Vikrant Singh and Pawan Singh
Even though Yogi Adityanath is now back as Chief Minister, the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results can at best be taken with a pinch of salt. The general mood during the campaign was for change. People wanted the Bhartiya Janata Party government to go. People belonging to communities other than Yadav and Muslim, who were anyway believed to be solidly standing with Samajwadi Party, wanted to see Akhilesh Yadav back as CM, (…)

by Bhavya *
Can the Subaltern Break the hierarchy?
The Hindi language Bollywood movie ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10083340], directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Alia Bhatt in the lead role along with Ajay Devgun playing the role of Karim Lala, Vijay Raaz in the role of the transgender Razia Begum and Jim Sarbh as the Journalist Amin Faizi, raises concerns over the legal and social status of sex workers in India. It recounts the story of how a girl enters into (…)

by Nand L. Dhameja *
March 15, 2022 ESG is the acronym for Environmental, Social and Governance. It is being used in capital markets and by investors to evaluate corporate behaviour and to determine the expected future financial performance of companies. ESG criteria is a subset of non-financial indicators which include sustainable, ethical and corporate governance issues like managing the organisation’s carbon, environmental and social factors; such ESG criteria is attracting greater (…)

Reviewers: Chanda Rani and Aamir Raza * __0__
The Population Myth: Islam, family Planning and Politics in India by S.Y. Quraishi
HarperCollins India 2021, 256 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9390351545 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9390351541 __0__
In recent years particularly after the landslide victory of the BJP in 2014 its followers, leaders and biased Media have vigorously perpetuated the propaganda that Muslims are deliberately increasing their population to outnumber the Hindus in India. A common (…)

This morning I saw a bird
on top of a pine tree,
perched on its pinnacle
on a mere twig;
it was feeling the air,
swaying with the breeze,
surveying the snow-capped Himalayas
in utter ease.
She was a tiny, feathered cobalt blue;
I do not know her name,
nor do I wish to know;
I want it to be, just so.
She was telling me to be:
dear human being
why are you always doing,
doing so much;
there is nothing more
than peace, as such.
I gazed at the mountains,
tall and majestic, (…)

by Rebecca Johnson
24 March 2022
Despite leaders’ claims, nuclear weapons don’t prevent war or make life safer or more peaceful – they put the survival of the whole planet at risk
In late February, as his invasion of Ukraine became bogged down, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia’s nuclear forces had been put on ‘special alert’. This posturing is familiar in wargame scenarios. It frequently ends with nuclear weapons being launched.
So, how did we get back to believing that nuclear (…)

We reject war and nuclear weapons. We call on all our fellow citizens of the world to join us in protecting our planet, home for all of us, from those who threaten to destroy it.
The invasion of Ukraine has created a humanitarian disaster for its people. The entire world is facing the greatest threat in history: a large-scale nuclear war, capable of destroying our civilization and causing vast ecological damage across the Earth.
We call for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of (…)

* Lived Body Experience of Women in Prostitution | Sur & Chakraborty
* Integrating struggles of Farmers, Fishers & Forest Dwellers | Dholakia & Ramakrishnan
* The Congress Party: towards reinvention or split? | Jayaramu
* Russia Must End the Invasion of Ukraine | Rajimwale

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, March 26, 2022
Brutal social violence and revenge killings in which numerous people were burnt to death in Rampurhat, in West Bengal made big news recently. A village council political functionary was murdered triggering counter-violence leading to 8 people being burnt to death. These killings are being read as part of the prevalent culture of ‘political’ violence? Why do political actors use violence? A police investigation may tell more about the case (…)