2024

The country faces prospects of continuing political and social unrest as well as economic meltdown.
A day after massive and unrelenting public protests forced Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to quit and flee to India, an interim government, that is expected to steer the country out of a Himalayan-size mess, is slowly taking shape in Dhaka.
While Nobel laureate and Bangladesh’s veteran economist Mohammad Yunus has agreed to head the interim regime, the names of the advisors who (…)

Abstract
In LGBTQIA+ advocacy, allyship is essential for promoting human rights and inclusivity. An ally is someone who actively supports LGBTQIA+ community, leveraging their privilege to amplify LGBTQIA+ voices and foster understanding. Effective allyship requires empathy, continuous education, and genuine engagement, transcending mere self-designation. Research highlights that supportive allies can enhance job satisfaction and productivity among LGBTQIA+ individuals. In India, (…)

The catastrophe of the Wayanad incident is not just related to the flash flood or the intense rain that the area experienced; rather, it is the tragedy of a development paradigm that the State has implemented over time. Waynad, once dominated by the tribal people, has undergone a capitalist transition, the commodification of environmentally sensitive places, and unrestricted resource exploitation are just a few of the factors that have made Waynad one of the best examples of human-caused (…)

July 31, 2024
Analysis of Indo-US relations has reacquired prominence after the first visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russia after returning to power for the third time. Modi’s timing of his Moscow visit has come to be debated in the Western capitals, as it coincided with the 75th celebration summit of the NATO at Washington D.C.Though PM Modi said in his meeting with the Russian President that peace cannot be established in Ukraine when fighting goes on in the battlefield, the (…)

The people were waiting with bated breath for the Union budget for 2024-25 mainly for two reasons. One what strategy the budget would outline for achieving the goal of Viksit Bharat 2027 and two how would the government respond to the demand of special package for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. On both counts the budget fails to meet the expectations. The budget does not present a road map for transformation of India into a developed country by 2047. PM Modi has totally succumbed to the political (…)

Recent landslides in Kerala is a gruesome reminder of imprudent developmental paradigm followed by our governments. Loss of hundreds of innocent lives in Kerala and Himalayan states are due to floods, landslides can be attributed to climate change from excessive human intervention. Query mining, tunnel construction, road widening, unsustainable buildings (often against mountain slopes) to promote tourism, diversion of forest land to agriculture and coffee plantations are regular (…)

8 August 2024
Seeing the anarchy spreading out as never before, I’m reminded of Gulzar saab’s words, commenting on the halaats around, along the strain that if one were to pick up the day’s newspapers, they’d be so heavily laced with news reports of violent killings that just by squeezing those pages blood drops would spill out! Gulzar saab said so during one of his book launches here in New Delhi, just before 2017 had ended. Today, of course, the situation stands compounded, with (…)

As the Middle East crisis continues to aggravate, the possibilities of peace can still improve if some of the top leaders of both Israel and Hamas can resign. Which ones should resign? On the Israeli side the Prime Minister Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu should definitely go, as also a few of his most aggressive colleagues. Similarly a few of the most aggressive Hamas leaders should resign, particularly those identified more closely with the planning and execution of the October 7 attack. On both (…)

Yarostan’s first letter
Dear Sophia,
Forgive me for addressing you familiarly, as a friend; I have no way of knowing if you’re still the person I once knew. I can’t remember the sound of your voice, the shape of your face or the feel of your hand. I vaguely remember admiring the energy and intelligence in someone so young, but I regret that you didn’t leave a lasting mark, you didn’t become my guide in my journey through hell.
I wouldn’t even remember your name if you hadn’t (…)

Communist Party of India New Delhi,
August 06, 2024
Press Release
The National Secretariat of the Communist Party of India issued today (August 6, 2024) the following statement:
The Communist Party of India expresses its deep concern on the grave situation in Bangladesh following the biggest mass protest resulting the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and subsequently leaving Bangladesh.
Last one month Bangladesh had witnessed students protest against the reservation (…)