2023

* Imphal - a Historic Turning Point? | S G Vombatkere
* CPM’s 34-year rule in West Bengal (Part 1) | Kobad Ghandy with Ghosh and Hazra
* Development Delusions & Forthcoming Panchayat Elections in Bengal | Sunil Ray
* Fadnavis’s “Aurangzeb Ki Aulad” Narrative Violates Constitution . . . | S N Sahu
* Future of Work & Its Implications on the Labour Market | Kingshuk Sarkar & D N Venkatesh
* Why do some Filipinos support the police shoot-to-kill policy? | Danielle P. Ochoa

Authoritarian Streak Under the Modi Regime is Getting Bigger
On June 15, 2023, an official meeting decided to change the name of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML). This is a disturbing development that has rightfully come under criticism. A prestigious national institution both as a library - archive and one that was conceived as a memorial space for India’s first Prime Minister should not have been renamed, and there should have been prior consultation for a consensus with (…)

Manipur, with its capital at Imphal, is bordered by Nagaland, Assam, and Mizoram. To its east is part of India’s sensitive international border with Myanmar (formerly Burma), increasingly under covert Chinese influence.
A turning point A part of the Second World War Burma Campaign, the gruelling and historic Battles of Imphal and Kohima were fought during March to July 1944, at great cost to both Indian and Japanese troops. The outcome was the defeat and withdrawal of Japanese forces, (…)

by Sunil Ray *
I am writing this piece based on my discussions with several people from different wakes of life while visiting several rural areas of Bengal recently. While it was an opportunity for me to explore the political pulse of the people of rural Bengal on the eve of the forthcoming panchayat election, I intend to reflect here mainly on the ‘development delusions’ being created by the ruling party against the backdrop of firstly on freebies that are being doled out, particularly (…)

The cat is finally out of the bag. The months’ long supposed investigations by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi governed Delhi Police has finally come out with a report running into thousands of pages, which has made all the effort to let off the hook Wrestlers’ Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, better known as a toughy of Eastern UP and a six time member of the Lok Sabha on the strength of his muscle power.
We will soon have a Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) (…)

by Kobad Ghandy with inputs by Raktim Ghosh and Bonhihotri Hazra
[bleu marine]This article will be divided into two parts. The first will deal with the CPM led West Bengal government’s approach to globalisation/SEZs, development with focus on Singur and Nandigram, Industry and labour, education and health......and its resultant actions on the people and their movements. The next will deal with the nature of its rule in the state.bleu marine]
People may ask as to what is the point now in (…)

10th June 2023
The Congress Party in Karnataka had included in its manifesto that if it comes to power, it would scrap the National Education Policy, (NEP) 2020. After winning the elections with an emphatic victory, the Congress Government has declared that since education is on the Concurrent List, it would take measures to scrap the NEP. In an article in these columns on 28 August 2020, I argued that while the NEP as mixed bag, the stand of the state governments would be crucial for the (…)

Possibly no public figure occupying a high office as that of Deputy Chief Minister ever used the derogatory and offensive term “Aurangzeb ki Aulad,” “Progeny of Aurangzeb,” after an alleged social media post containing the image of Aurangzeb was met with a violent response from Hindutva groups against Muslims in Kolhapur in Maharashtra. The concerned Deputy Chief Minister is Devendra Fadnavis of Maharashtra and he used the humiliating term to point fingers at Muslims and spew venom and (…)

by Kingshuk Sarkar & D N Venkatesh *
Introduction
The future of work is a topic of great interest and speculation, as technological advancements and societal changes continue to shape the way we work. The basic idea of the future of work revolves around the notion that work and employment are undergoing significant transformations due to various factors, including technological advancements, societal changes, and economic shifts. The concept explores how these factors are reshaping (…)

Pradip Baksi
BACKGROUND
It is for about one and a half decades now that our Sex Workers are raising the issues related to their lack of professional, legal and social rights before the members of the Other Sections of our society. Throughout this period, they are trying to get governmental recognition for their legal, civil and social rights, as people who have voluntarily chosen to be engaged as workers in the sector of sexual services. They belong to a profession which is about 10, 000 (…)