2023

* Thoughts for World Environment Day | S.G.Vombatkere
* The Smart City: Some Critical Perspectives | Alruba Sheikh
* India’s development strategies | Bala Ramulu Chinnala
* Woman, Nature & International Division of Labour: interview Maria Mies | Ariel Salleh (1987)

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, June 3, 2023
From A to Z inauguration of the New Parliament in Delhi had arbitrariness written all over…
On May 28, 2023, India’s new Parliament building was inaugurated with 21 opposition parties in the country boycotting the event. Everything should have been done by the Modi Government to take everyone along and make it a consensus-driven event. Not only was the opposition absent on this important day, even the President of India who is the head of (…)

Thoughts for World Environment Day
World Environment Day is observed every 5th June, to encourage awareness and action for protecting the environment. It is a “global platform for inspiring positive change” , to address climate crisis caused by global warming (GW).
Homo Sapiens population on Planet Earth was 0.3-billion in 1000, and under 2-billion in 1900. It is currently 8-billion-and-counting. It is only in the last two centuries, that humans have created and efficiently operated (…)

by Alruba Sheikh*
Abstract: Amidst the contemporary discussions on contestations of the idea, development and execution of the smart city projects, this paper highlights some key issues regarding the question of how transforming city spaces and increased technology interventions critically affect the urban life of city dwellers within the discourse of power, governance, capitalism and economy.
Keywords: Smart Cities, Technology, Urban Life.
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The advocates of contemporary Smart (…)

Abstract
The Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Indian constitution are directives to the governments for governance in general and for designing welfare and development strategies. The paper captures important dimensions of public policies in India and concludes that policies have the propensity to respond to better-off conditions rather than create those conditions for the effective implementation of progressive policies. Their failure has been the capacity to (…)

by Jean Dreze
Making Aadhaar-based payments compulsory for NREGA has severely undermined workers’ rights. Rural development ministry should retract its January 30 order:
The poor history of wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act took another wrong turn earlier this year. On January 30, the rural development ministry issued an order making Aadhaar-based payments compulsory for all NREGA wages from February 1, 2023 – just two days later. This has led (…)

The recently published book, Japanese Management, Indian Resistance: The Struggles of the Maruti Suzuki Workers (Speaking Tiger, 2023), authored by Anjali Deshpande and Nandita Haksar, has explored the multiple dimensions of domination and resistance embedded in management-labour relations in the Maruti Suzuki plants in India.
The testimony of a former manager of the Company (under a pseudonym, Sathya Narayanan), incorporated in the book, enriches our understanding of the managerial (…)

by Nayakara Veeresha *
The electoral verdict of the Karnataka assembly elections is out and the Indian National Congress has returned to power by winning 135 out of 224 constituencies. The analysis so far in the discourse has highlighted that strong anti-incumbency towards the outgoing BJP government is one of the key factors for the decisive victory. Other reasons cited are (i) failure to provide clean administration due to corruption (ii) price rise (iii) five guarantees of the Congress (…)

As past experience has repeatedly shown, in the prevailing economic, trade, and investment realities of the world, it is very important from the outset to be very cautious regarding joining any international frameworks and agreements involving the superpowers as the language may be that of cooperation but the reality may be that of people of developing countries having to pay heavily while the big business interests of the superpowers are able to further enhance their prospects and (…)

31 May 2023
How very blatant the targeting gets! The long-dead Mughal emperors, poets, philosophers, political leaders, and significant personalities are not spared. The entire chapters on them are getting off the syllabus. The latest to be off the syllabus is the poet whose verse reigns in this subcontinent: Mohammad Iqbal.
It is significant to mention the basic background of Mohammad Iqbal. He lived from 1873 to 1938. He received his PhD (Heidelberg) and Barrister at law (London) and (…)