March 2009

The death of Victor Kiernan at the age of 95 a few days ago probably represents the passing of an era. This is not because he lived well beyond the biblical three score and ten, but because he was among the few survivors from a group of intellectuals who formed the Historians Group of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Most members of that group believed that he was the most erudite and widely read among them all.
Born in 1913, he came to Trinity College, Cambridge from Manchester (…)

Flip-flop. Or catch hold of some other alternative set of words. To describe our reactions to the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Before the awards came along its way, this very film was criticised along the typical format—how dare a Brit make a film on our poverty, how could he find his way inwards into our slums and expose realities of the day, how could he portray the very aspirations of slum-dwellers? Now, of course, there is a complete U-turn. And with eight Oscars tucked in, (…)

Communication
My congratulations to Spencer A. Leonard for writing such a detailed critique of the Left’s approach to the War on Terror in the Mainstream issue dated February 14, 2009. While the Indian Left political parties have repeatedly shown their tendency to follow an agenda that often seems anti-Indian, notably in their opposition to the nuclear deal with the US, that will allow India to develop its energy agenda in an alternative manner, their reaction to Islamist jihad is (…)

Solzhenitsyn, the renowned Nobel Prize winning Russian author and thinker, passed away on August 3, 2008 due to cardiac arrest at the ripe age of 89. He led a bitter but illustrious life in the tumultuous phase in the Russian history of the 20th century. Throughout his life, whether in Russia or outside of Russia in exile, he worked till the last minute reflecting his firm determination, devotion and positive attitude towards life. He was a man of indomitable faith in his ideas and ideals on (…)

If at Surajkund, Narasimha Rao has effectively warded off all challenge to his leadership within his own party, it is time for him now to identify the prime issue for the business of governance in the list of priorities facing him. In other words, now that he has consolidated his position as the Congress President, he has to enforce his authority as the Prime Minister.
There are many areas where this needs to be done, both at home and abroad. There is, however, one item which (…)

The Subprime Solution by Robert J. Shiller; Princeton University Press; 2008.
The Origin of Financial Crises by George Cooper; Random House; 2008.
The Credit Crunch by Graham Turner; Pluto Press; 2008.
The tsunami of the financial crisis that struck the world in 2008 caught most economists by total surprise, and has now generated a large outpou-ring of analysis of what went wrong. The books under review have three very different takes on it. Roughly speaking, one may characterise them (…)

The Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) in cooperation with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Embassy of Sweden (Swedish International Development Agency-SIDA) organised a National Conference on NREGA and Panchayats on October 14-15, 2008 at the Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi. More than 1200 Panchayat Presidents and elected local government representatives from 24 States Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, (…)

Communication
“Do not judge me by my actions, do not judge me from man’s point of view. Judge me from God’s—by the hidden purpose behind my actions. ” – Fidel Castro (Mainstream, November 29, 2008)
The editorial entitled “Moral Victory for Evicted Peasantry” (Mainstream, September 13, 2008) gives unqualified and blind support (and even twists facts to support) the objectives and virulent agitation of the Trinamul Congress under the leadership of its supremo—Mamata Banerjee—for the (…)

As if the horrendous happenings in Dhaka barely a week ago (wherein the Bangladesh Rifles jawans killed at least 74 persons, including a large number of Army officers heading the BDR, even as the unofficial death toll far exceeds that figure) were not enough, Lahore has been witness to a new kind of terror-strike, the target this time being the game of cricket with the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team members miraculously escaping death since a grenade hurled at the bus they were travelling (…)

(On the occasion of International Women’s Day)
Good man Muthalik, patriot—
He upright, honest man;
He do not like this dirtiness,
He clean up all he can.
One problem he is having, though,
That require CT Scan:
The dirtiness he thinks he see
Is all inside his brain.
Muthalik, he like Amreeka
For dollar and internet;
But for keeping mahila disciplined
Taliban are his pet.
Kama Sutra, Khajurahu—
Very spiritual are;
Naked sadhu maharaj-jies
Spread that (…)