June 30, 2007

The battle for the presidency is descending to the level of present-day parliamentary or legislative debates distinguished by subjective, personalised onslaughts on political opponents and the murky trading of charges during election campaigns. The manner in which the UPA-Left’s nominee for the office of the President, the first women candidate for the post, is being subjected to attacks by interested quarters trying to bring out skeletons from her cupboard is indeed quite unprecedented. (…)

“If your enemies can’t find a flaw in your reasoning”, said William Hazlitt, “they will quickly find one in your reputation.” With its economy booming and most Commonwealth of Independent States back in its fold despite the US attempts to cage the bear on its own turf, Russia is on the way to recovering its past glory. And that is unsettling Washington. Hence the new strategy to balkanise it in Eastern Europe. Any state worth its salt would see this hidden game. And when Russia resents, (…)

It is widely believed that this year some important agreements are likely to be reached in the so-called Doha Development Round of WTO (World Trade Organisation) negotiations. However, as things stand today the prospects of the developing countries appear to be quite dim in terms of protecting their interests or making any gains. It is being increasingly said that this so-called development round offered hardly any development gains to poor and developing countries and in fact doesn’t (…)

[(On June 27 this year falls Nikhil Chakravartty’s ninth death anniversary. On this occasion we reproduce the ‘Political Notebook’ by S. Viswam in the first issue of Mainstream to appear on July 4, 1998 following N.C.’s demise, the then President K.R. Narayanan’s message on N.C.’s death, and two articles by P.C. Joshi and Lalit Uniyal on N.C. (published in Mainstream, July 11, 1998). )]
Death snatched away from Indian journalism last week (June 27, 1998) one of its most illustrious (…)

I first met Nikhilda around the time when I was leaving for my chosen work in the village. I had only just returned to the North from K.N. Raj’s Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram). There was an unpublished piece with me that I had written on economic development, and somebody advised me to contact Nikhilda, which I did. He asked me to come over to his Kaka Nagar residence. He sat in his special great chair and heard me very attentively. He was interested in (…)

The following is the message of K.R. Narayanan, the President of India, on the demise of Nikhil Chakravartty.
Quietly and unobtrusively as he lived, Nikhil Chakravartty has slipped out of life. At once gentle and formidable, his was the most seasoned voice in Indian journalism. Over a period of five-and-a-half decades, Nikhil Chakravartty witnessed human affairs with the impatience of a rebel and at the same time with the dispassion of a historian. Committed socialist that he was, Nikhil (…)

We, the undersigned, urge the authorities of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to review the recent decision of the Proctorial Board to rusticate seven students. This course of action was deemed fit in view of the gherao of the JNU’s Registrar by students on February 19, 2007. However, the gherao by students cannot be viewed in isolation and ought to be viewed in its proper context. The mistreatment and exploitation of contract workers and labourers employed for building construction had (…)

The first connection of the Chinese mainland with the Internet was established in September 20, 1987. Since then the Internet has grown to host the largest base of net users in the world. In the past few years the Internet boom in China can be seen in the light of a new cultural phenomenon.
In the year 1996, China banned access to almost 100 websites in order to prevent the delivery of offending information. The banned sites included sexually explicit sites, Western news outlets, (…)

On June 9 and 10, 2007, the Rajasthan Brahman Sabha held a meeting at Salasar, and resolved to launch a peaceful agitation to demand job reservation. (The Times of India, Lucknow, June 12, 2007, p. 7) This comes in the immediate aftermath of the violent agitation of the Gujjars, who had demanded a change in their status from OBC (Other Backward Caste) to Scheduled Tribe (ST). The Meenas of Rajasthan, who had been enjoying an ST status hitherto, opposed the Gujjar stir fearing competition in (…)

[(BOOK REVIEW )]
Framing Geelani, Hanging Afzal: Patriotism in the Time of Terror by Nandita Haksar; Promilla & Co. Publishers in association with Bibliophile South Asia, New Delhi; pp. 348; Rs 450.
The author of this remarkable volume is a distinguished lawyer and legal activist. Given her family background, one would have expected her to become a leading light of the establishment, educating the rest of her countrymen on how to serve the nation and be good, patriotic Indians! On (…)