December 09, 2006

We are deeply anguished at the large scale displacement and loss of livelihood being caused through widespread land acquisition all over India by the State Governments with the active encouragement of the Centre in the name of promoting ‘development’.
In this context we are highly concerned over the grave situation that has developed on the issue of the setting up of a Tata car factory on large tracts of first class agricultural land at Singur in Hooghly district of West Bengal. We are (…)

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are not a new concept, but the scale and speed and the socio-economic ambience in which these are being created are entirely new. Economic Processing Zones (EPZ) existed in India and SEZs are reportedly a tremendous success in China , starting 1979. But in present-day India, there are growing sections of the population across the country that are protesting, the position is rapidly hardening, and the “E” in SEZ is being seen to stand for “exploitation” or (…)

The contribution of B. R. Ambedkar to modern Indian social and political thought is immense. But, his legacy carries multiple meanings. In his discourse on Ambedkar in the 1990, Upendra Baxi lamented that even the Subaltern Studies acknowledged Ambedkar after publishing its six volumes. He identified multiple Ambedkars in the context of his centenary celebration:
…there is not one but there are many Ambedkars or there are many kaleidoscopic images. When we presume to celebrate the (…)

We observe December 10 as the Human Rights Day every year. Critiques then made highlight violation of human rights across the world. But the focus generally remains on civil and political rights. The foremost human right, the right to life, suffers from inadequate attention. We may recall that Thomas Jefferson, who was largely responsible for the drafting of the US Declaration of Independence, declared that among the inalienable rights are those of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. (…)

Modernisation is axiomatically through industrialisation according to capitalist dogma. Appropriate technology reconciles progress through industry with employment of labour. Super capitalists with focus on hyper profit adopt gluttonous technology whereby accumulation of wealth with the least Labour is achieved, the hunger of the masses and the decline of agriculture disregarded and national policy being regarded as industrialise or perish. Mega-corporates, particularly foreign and (…)