2024

9th September, 2024
The purpose of this write-up is to understand India

With barely a fortnight to go for the first anniversary of the Palestinian daredevilry of entering South Israel and whisking away hundreds of Zionists on their motorcycles, it is amply clear that securing the safe release of more than a hundred hostages, still in Hamas captivity, is not a priority of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Contrary to that, the latest surreptitious

September 20, 2024
Even as there is suspense over the delay in pronouncing the reserved judgement by the Karnataka High Court granting permission to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the alleged MUDA land scam case, the State Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has sought a "comprehensive" fresh report on the alleged scam from the Chief Secretary of Karnataka Govt Shalini Rajneesh.
In a letter to the Chief Secretary Gehlot has sought more information on the basis of a fresh complaint (…)

Vanya Vaidehi Bhargava has written a thought-provoking article [1] for The Hindu. Commenting on the term centrism, she writes that it is a term scornfully invented by the Left for those

If we begin with the state, we end with the state. Let us begin instead with the popular reunions[

Some years ago, I was early for a meeting at Constitution Club and seated with my notebook, pen in hand. Just then, a young man walked in with a flustered expression on his face. He sat a few rows behind me and muttered,

The circulation of a viral video showing Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, performing Ganpati Puja in the company of Chief Justice, Chandrachud, and his wife at the latter’s residence has disturbing implications for the independence of the judiciary and the insulated image of judges manning it.
The Ganpati festival is one of the most popular and pious festivals in Maharashtra. The Chief Justice, being Maharashtrian, has every right to celebrate this festival, but as a head of the judicial (…)

Statement by Citizens for Peace
DEHRADUN, 13 September 2024
UTTARAKHAND SITUATION
We are deeply disturbed and troubled by the manner in which social and economic life in Uttarakhand is continually being disrupted by sectarian elements apparently with known political support. This situation has been aggravated in the last few months and weeks due to the administration

The Editors Guild of India (EGI)
Press Statement
20th September 2024
The Editors Guild of India welcomes the verdict of the Bombay High Court, striking down the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, as unconstitutional, specifically Rule 3, which sought to empower the Central government to form a Fact-Check Units (FCUs) to identify "fake and misleading" information about its business on social media platforms. (…)

[fond noir][blanc]BOOK REVIEWblanc]fond noir]
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Cold War Deceptions:
The Asia Foundation and the CIA
by David H. Price
University of Washington Press
2024. 358 pp.
(paper), ISBN 978-0-295-75224-2
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Reviewed by Hao Chen (Dartmouth College)
In his most recent book, Cold War Deceptions: The Asia Foundation and the CIA, anthropologist and historian David H. Price offers one of the most comprehensive accounts that examines the covert operation and financial maneuvering (…)