November 29, 2008

Congress President-cum-UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s spirited defence, at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, of bank nationalisation (carried out almost 40 years ago in the second half of 1969) and her emphatic assertion that ’’public sector financial institutions have given our economy the stability and resilience we are now witnessing in the face of the economic slowdown’’ reflect a fresh effort on the part of the head of the principal and premier national ruling party to reiterate (…)

These are extraordinary times, so strange and unexpected things occurring should not surprise us. The only thing predictable is that one cannot predict correctly (that also applies to the Indian cricket team!). The US Government, after promising under different heads a few trillion dollars, seems to be fighting a losing battle with the economy steadily declining.
The Indian Government, after so much song and dance in the last few years about the need for strict adherence to FRBM, has (…)

November 27 this year marks P.N. Haksar’s tenth death anniversary. On this occasion we offer our sincere homage to one of the country’s foremost thinkers by reproducing the following piece by the former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Haksar’s role as an eminent administrator and distinguished diplomat would remain indelible in the history of post-independence India.
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The fundamental preoccupation of our distant and ancient thinkers was with three questions: First, who am (…)

The following piece appeared in Mainstream under ‘New Delhi Skyline’ shortly after Indira Gandhi carried out bank nationalisation. This was N.C.’s first contribution in this journal after that momentous step. It is being reproduced here after Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s latest speech underlining the significance of bank nationalisation for our nation in the light of the current global economic turmoil.
From Man-on-the-moon to Morarji-in-mess, last week has been unusually exciting (…)

In the Wake of Global Economic Crisis
Despite being responsible for the current global economic crisis, the United States is now trying to place the greater part of the burden on the developing countries to maintain the world’s financial stability. Washington is trying to impose on these countries the forms of their participation in the international financial institutions so as to continue to limit their potential to influence the process while widening the US ability of the US to use (…)

President Dmitry Medvedev is coming to India in early December on his first visit to this country after being elected the Russian head of state. The following article is being reproduced from New Dawn in Russia (a journal published by the Diplomatist magazine in association with the Information Department of the Russian Embassy) to present a glimpse of the rise of Russia in the economic field after the disintegration of the USSR
seventeen years ago.
When the then Soviet economy (…)

It is not Obama who has created history. It is history which created him.
The human family has a common destiny and a common capability. Race and wealth may divide them for a while; lack of opportunity may help some to wield power and others to submit. That could put blinkers of arrogance in some and humility and helplessness in others. But they or very few of them feel unequal unless forced by denial of opportunity, feel as equals once back to their roots and have no sense there of (…)

These questions were raised by Fidel Castro at the height of the US presidential campaign.
It would be dishonest of me to remain silent after hearing Barack Obama’s speech delivered at the Cuban American National Foundation last Friday. I feel no resentment towards him, for he is not responsible for the crimes perpetrated against Cuba and humanity. Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries a favour. I have therefore no reservations about criticising him and expressing myself (…)

Epigraph
“Underlying these religions were a common set of beliefs about how you treat other people and how you aspire to act, not just for yourself but also for the greater good.”
(Obama in his interview about Religion given to Cathleen Falsani, March 27, 2004; cf. to his mother’s teaching about the validity of diverse faiths and the value of tolerance.)
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So, now, India is home to “Hindu” terrorism. Departing from the more usual banner-appelation, “Saffron Terror”, I wish the fact (…)

By now it is well-recognised that government authorities who come under the influence of imperialism and big business do not hesitate to kill their own invaluable institutions. Several public sector institutions and organisations of great value have been destroyed in this way, with the willing participation of international organisations which too are, sadly, frequently under the sway of multinational companies and developed countries. This crime becomes all the more unpardonable when it (…)