2022

by Atul Sarma and Shyam Sunder *
It is a mere cliché that the Rule of Law is crucially important for efficient functioning of a market economy since timely disposal of property disputes and enforcement of contract form the core of a market economy. This has assumed far greater importance in the context of Assam government’s resolve to take the state to the fifth place among the Indian states by 2026-27.
The United Nations defines the rule of law as “a principle of governance in which all (…)

To live fully we would need to let go of our fear of dying. That fear can be addressed by the love of living. bell hooks
Even though death is normal and inevitable, it is not easy for me to acknowledge that bell hooks is no more amongst us. I know that professional academicians and scholars are trained to restrain their emotions, and even when a colleague dies, they merely issue formal condolence messages, and write yet another scholarly paper on the academic achievements of their late (…)

I have been reading the obituaries on, and reminiscences about, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat (who along with his wife and several military personnel, was killed in a helicopter crash on December 7). His life and tragic end remind me of the fate of the Indian mythical hero Bheema, the second of the Pandava brothers, whose exploits are described in the epic Mahabharata.
Bheema is described as ’kanchan-barna, brishash-skandha, unnata-baksha’ (…)

The current notion of development was born of the nineteenth century philosophical ideas of evolutionary progress, combined with the Ernst Haeckel’s ontological development metaphor. Soon after its origins, the notion of development percolated into theories of social evolution current before the Darwinian evolutionary theory was published. The social theorists of the nineteenth century reproduced current prejudices about social evolution with an aura of scientific authority, by allusion to (…)

Narendra Modi, a senior swayamsevak (member) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, long back in 2013 when he occupied the office of chief minister of Gujarat, declared himself to be a ‘Hindu nationalist’
For PM, the story of repression and persecution by Aurangzeb, a Mughal king is not the story of some individual tyrant ruler but a bigoted Muslim who hated Hindus and Hinduism. Aurangzeb personified all Muslims of India and the religion Islam. Unfortunately our PM as a Hindutva bigot (…)

BOOK REVIEW
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Bangladesh War: Report from Ground Zero
Manas Ghosh
Niyogi Books
Pages: 220; Price: Rs 695
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Pakistan’s military carried out a stinking genocide in East Pakistan in 1971, with the Chinese becoming accomplices in the mass murder, rape and torture. But terrible crimes were committed by the Nixon-Kissinger administration. That they actively came out against the Bengalis of East Pakistan and India is known. Former journalist Manas Ghosh reveals that the US (…)

‘The Year’s doors open
like those of language
towards the unknown’.
— ‘January First’ by Octavio Paz
New Year
And, once again, we sketch a roadmap
to enter the unknown, drawing
on the balance sheet of the year
fading into history at midnight stroke.
What is this balance sheet like?
Is it the survival of the ‘fittest’,
shriveled from within
by an abysmal lack of values?
Or are ideals, virtues, aesthetic qualities,
relegated to the periphery, now
breaking (…)

by David I Steinberg *
For the fourth time since Myanmar’s independence in 1948, the Tatmadaw (military) has reasserted its control. On 1 February 2021, on the cusp of inaugurating a new parliament from the 2020 national elections, the Tatmadaw claimed electoral corruption in the opposition National League for Democracy’s overwhelming victory over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Refugees, who fled a flare-up in fighting between the Myanmar army and ethnic (…)

by Bhabani Shankar Nayak *
In the age of rising tide of neoliberal authoritarianism and populist reactionary religious politics, the electoral victory of left brings smiles to all progressive forces beyond Chile. The people of Chile defeated José Antonio Kast-a committed follower of the country’s former dictator, Gen. Augusto Pinochet who established neoliberal authoritarianism in Chile before it spread worldwide. The decisive victory of Mr Gabriel Boric is a celebration of people’s power (…)

News and Star - The Cumberland News December, 12 2021
SINCE September, local Conservative politicians have seemed very eager to praise the new military pact known as AUKUS.
They are apparently unconcerned that the US and UK will be assisting Australia to acquire new long-range strike capabilities for its air force, navy and army, including the provision of nuclear-powered submarines fuelled by weapons grade uranium.
They clearly hope that BAE Systems staff in Barrow will be involved (…)