2022

by Prof Radhakanta Barik*
The temple in Kashi drew many political leaders from Gandhi to Modi. Gandhi went there and branded it as the dirtiest place which did shock his Hindu conscience. He spoke out honestly and sent a message that God lives in a clean place. Gandhi went with young Jagjivan Ram in a car which got attacked by the priests of the temple but Gandhi retorted back: you are a scared lot, as you are so many but could not kill me. This message was clear as Gandhi took the Dalits (…)

IMPRESSIONS
The lawyer’s name is Electron. That is right, a practising lawyer whose name is Electron. If any confirmation is required, please meet his brothers, Proton and Neutron. These are real names of real people. Of course they are in Kerala, a place where impossible things turn possible.
It was not an eccentric desire to be different that made K. Arjunachari name his sons in unconventional style. He had two reasons, both noble in nature. He knew the way atoms bonded (…)

by Kingshuk Sarkar *
Introduction
The emergence of the gig or platform economy is one of the most important changes in the world of work. An important outcome of this is the introduction of digital labour platforms which includes both web-based platforms, where work is outsourced to a geographically dispersed population (‘crowd work’) and location-based applications (apps) which allocate work to individuals in a specific geographical area, mostly to do local, service-oriented tasks such (…)

On January 5 the Visakhapatnam coast witnessed bloody clashes between traditional small fishing communities and some fishers fishing with ring seines made of smaller mesh size nets and equipped with sonar fish finders. The clashes left 5 fishing boats fully burnt and another 6 to 7 boats partially damaged. About 30 fishers were wounded. Some of them had to be rescued from the sea by the Coast Guard. The police arrested 60 to 70 people and lookout notices were issued against nearly 400 (…)

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation conducted a pan-India assessment of climate change vulnerability based on fourteen parameters encompassing socio-economic aspects, livelihood, institution and infrastructure and biophysical features. “Out of 100 most vulnerable districts in the country, 70% of them are in five states of Eastern India– Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha,” said Dr Akhilesh (…)

by Murzban Jal
Philosophy comes into the world amid the loud cries of its enemies, who betray their inner infection by wild shouts for help against the fiery ardour of ideas. —Karl Marx, The Leading Article in No. 179 of the Kölnische Zeitung.
Dear Ex-comrade Kanhaiya Kumar,
Extreme urgency has compelled me to write again to you, especially in view that you are to assist the battle against the BJP and the Dharam Sansad (Religious Parliament) recently held in Haridwar where calls were (…)

Abstract
The Malabar Rebellion (also known as the Mappilla/Moplah Rebellion) took place in the Malabar region of Madras Presidency, which is today a part of the state of Kerala in August 1921. The upsurge by a section of the Muslim community (Mappilas/Moplahs) of the region was the outcome of a long history of diverse factors and continues to be a contested issue. It caused a major turmoil at the time, both at the regional as well as national levels, particularly in the context of the (…)

On the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Paris Commune of 1871, historian Laura C. Forster has raised fundamental questions about commemorating the great insurgency and what happened in its wake (See Laura C. Forster, ‘Radical Commemoration, the Politics of the Street, and the 150th Anniversary of the Paris Commune of 1871’, History Workshop Journal, Vol. 92, Autumn 2021). The questions raised and observations made by Forster illuminate our historical imagination. Forster (…)

MUSINGS
January10, 2022
A Grim Reality We Are Ignoring — Many More Muslim-Haters Could Be In The Making!
All those arrested or detained so far in the Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai app case are the young. Young students to be precise. How could they carry such perversion cum hatred cum communal anger for the ‘other’?
This very, very vital crux needs to be studied? That’s a different story altogether who would bother to go into the very crux, in an atmosphere when communal poisoning is (…)

The Editors Guild of India condemns the continuing online harassment of women journalists, which includes targeted and organised online trolling as well as threats of sexual abuse. What is further disturbing is that most of these attacks are targeted at journalists who have been outspokenly critical of the current government and the ruling party, in an effort to silence them under the intimidation of such attacks. This is a travesty of all democratic norms, and in violation of law.