June 16, 2007

Eventually the UPA has been able to find a nominee for the President’s post: Pratibha Patil. A good choice no doubt—the first woman to occupy the office of head of state; because despite the NDA-backed Independent candidate, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, being a redoubtable figure whose political stature is exceedingly high and whose influence extends far beyond the confines of the saffron political party he subscribed to, the votes of the UPA constituents and its supporting (…)

The Indian Express has initiated a debate on the qualities and the role of the President of India—a debate that would expectedly prove fruitful and significant since the nation is soon about to elect its next President. The present President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam retires on July 24, 2007. In an article published in the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar (May 31, 2007) titled Agla Rashtrapati Kaisa Ho? I submitted that the ongoing discussion regarding the election of the future President of India is (…)

Protests against Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been reported from several parts of the country. These are basically the struggles of people trying to protect their land and livelihood. These sporadic struggles and their demands are highly justified, but these are not adequate. What is needed is nothing less than a complete repeal, a definite nullifying of the piece of legislation called the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (Act No. 28 of 2005, dated June 23, 2005). It is such an (…)

The National Sample Survey Organisation of the Government of India published a report entitled “Perceived Adequacy of Food Consumption in Indian Households 2004-2005”. This is based on NSS 61st Round, July 2004-June 2005. This report has made some damaging disclosures regarding non-availability of food to the rural households throughout the year in various States of the country. It has made a very short and pithy analysis of the food availability status of different States.
It has (…)

THE STORY OF GROWTH IN THE POST-REFORM PERIOD
Planning Commission’s Estimate of Poverty on the basis of 61st Round of NSS—2004-05
The NSSO results on the basis of large sample survey data on household consumer expenditure (NSS 61st Round) for 2004-05 are the basis of poverty estimates. The data were collected on uniform recall period (URP) using 30-days for all items. The data was also available using 365 days for five frequently purchased non-food items, namely, clothing, footwear, (…)

Some years ago, I went to Pararia in Bihar. The women there had been brutally gang-raped by police-men. The judgement in the courts had gone against the women and as Nimmi Devi said: “The police went scot-free, some even got promoted.” I was shooting a film on rape, ‘Now, I Will Speak’, and one of the rapists came to intimidate the women and myself at the site; obviously to stop the story from breaking out. I continued to film the testimonies of several women, each of whom told me how they (…)

There are not a few who believe that Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, never intended to found a new religion. Essentially a man of God, he wanted the Hindus of his time to be good Hindus and the Muslims to be good Muslims, urging them to live in peace and harmony in the ambience of religious tolerance. Were a proof needed, it is provided in the fact that when he passed away, the Hindus wanted to cremate him and the Muslims insisted on giving him a burial. His incipient utterance—there is (…)

An exchange of electioneering polemics has brought to the forefront an issue of first-class significance which no party interested in the maintenance of the present democratic system, despite all its faults, can afford to sleep over.
On May 12 Indira Gandhi told the press at the Calcutta airport that he CPI-M was trying to knock together all the Opposition parties “to get a President elected who can oust me”.
Two days later, Jyoti Basu, refuting Indira Gandhi’s charge, said that it (…)

Nineteen eminent scholars, belonging to different disciplines, including foreigners, commissioned by Ather Farouqui, have joined in an exercise in Redefining Urdu Politics in India, in the form of a book with this title.
Many among them do not know Urdu. But all of them are friends of Urdu. A majority of them are non-Muslims (twelve in number). But all of them are friends of Muslims. Thus they cannot be accused of a bias against Urdu and Muslims when they hold, with varying emphasis, that (…)

The overall economic performance may be satisfactory but the agricultural sector is stagnating. Foodgrains production has not increased during the last six years and per capita availability of foodgrains is declining and is at the same level as it was fifty years back. It was expected that the Budget would address this issue in a bold manner by, among other things, considerably |
Provision of cheap and hassle-free institutional credit is crucial for agricultural growth. But despite much (…)