2023

The Vice-President, Jagdeep Dhankar, has done it again. He started by joining law minister, in his daily bout of criticism of Collegium system ever since the swearing in of the Justice D Y Chandrachud as a chief justice of India, in his inaugural address as a Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. He, in his well-orchestrated stratagem, in conference of speaker in Jaipur, made full-frontal attack on the theory of basic structure enunciated by the larger ever bench of 13 Judges of the Supreme Court in (…)

We have already seen in an earlier article that sports is big business. In India it is not only that, but extremely political with top politicians or their close relatives dominating the lucrative bodies like cricket, wrestling, tennis, boxing, etc.
Sports is big time politics in India. Jay Shah, son of home minister Amit Shah, is Honorary Secretary, BCCI and was elected as the President of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) following its AGM held virtually. Ten years president of the (…)

Abstract
This paper closely looks into the association between the political and administrative hegemony and policy making and policy implementation process.To establish this association, the paper offers an empirical evidence from the state of Kerala by critically reviewing the political hegemony of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) over the People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) and how it helped them to capture local governments in the state. It also looks into the political hegemony of the LDF and (…)

by Prof Radhakanta Barik *
KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI (KBC), the Indian version of the American TV show, ‘Who Will be Millionaire’ has run for long years. It started in July 2000, has had fourteen seasons and 1,027 episodes. In current times, the immensely popular KBC appears to be tailored to a broad framework of conservative ideology in sync with a Hindutva worldview. The show-makers present as given the belief in Hindu religious tenets (of karma and dharma) in life. Those who do karma get (…)

by Ranabir Samaddar and Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay *
Communal violence has led to clear territorial demarcation of space, access, and resources, marking the everyday experience of minority citizenship in Kolkata.
Confrontation, contests and conflict have been key characteristics of Kolkata since colonial times.
Class, caste and religious divides have defined many aspects of the city’s development. Throughout its colonial history, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), had been a Hindu-majority city (…)

The technological advancements in the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly the revolution in the information technology (IT) sector, have had a negative influence on health, food consumption, nutrition intake and fitness as a result of incorrect usage. Because of this, there is a rising trend in people who lead deskbound lifestyles, have bad eating habits, postural deviations, muscle disorders and injuries, stress, and social marginalisation, to name a few. It is well established by (…)

by Prabir Purkayastha *
Massive green energy plan for Indian capital but not for its people
(India Press Agency - January 20, 2023) The recent announcement of the Narendra Modi government of a Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 19,794 crore) National Green Hydrogen Mission has created two kinds of questions. The most common reaction is what is green hydrogen? And do we have a plan for a green hydrogen path for which Rs 20,000 crore is being earmarked?
Let us get one fact straight: all shades of (…)

by Sher Singh Sangwan *
Like the Minimum Support Price for 23 kinds of cereal, pulses, and oilseeds crops; the Government of India (GOI) has been announcing a guaranteed price for sugar cane which was called the Statutory Minimum price (SMP) till 2008-09. Since 2009-10, it is termed Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) as per the recommendation of the Rangarajan Committee which took into account the cost of production of sugarcane as well as the sugar price realized by sugar mills. Despite (…)

by S. K. Saidapur *
Soul-searching from any angle, unequivocally suggests that restructuring the Indian education system (schools to universities) and taking it to international standards is inevitable now more than ever. The arrival of foreign varsities is imminent and this will quickly drive most Indian higher education institutions (HEIs) to oblivion unless they upgrade their relevance and competence to global levels. Remodeling and repurposing the higher education system as a whole is (…)

by Jeevesh Gupta
Remembering Madhu Dandavate on his birth centenary was all the more important keeping in mind the dying voice of the opposition in India.
Volunteers of Madhu Dandavate janm shatabdi Samaroh samiti today organised the first commemoration meeting in his memory which shall be followed by a country wide series of events through 2023. Speaking on this ocassion, convenor of the samiti, Sh. Arun Srivastava said that "those great politicians whose children are not in politics (…)