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• Joshimath Sinking: Destruction of Nature and Disneyfication of Himalayan Pilgimage Centres | Anonymous

  14 January 2023

  by Anonymous
  With Joshimath sinking, the worst prophecies I have made in the past about our disastrous policies for the ‘development’ of the Himalayas are sadly coming true. Joshimath is just the beginning. While I have much to say about how as a government as well as a civil society we continue to treat the destruction of Himalayan ecology with total disregard, the case of Joshimath, Kedarnath, and Badrinath and other sacred destinations has a different dimension.
  This is related to (…)

• The Earth Speaks at Joshimath | Sagari Chhabra

  14 January 2023, by Sagari Chhabra

  From jagged lightning furious sounds emerged, falling on the earth, in drops so huge, they transmuted the entire landscape; from which there was no escape.
  They said the cracks were due to a tectonic shift and glacial debris; notwithstanding the frenzy, the earth who had long been held captive in silence, could not withstand the enormity of the violence.
  She finally spoke, ‘You have invented the new Ma!’ ‘Who is that?’ I asked in awe, ‘The new Ma-chine! now watch the sheen of the (…)

• Swami Vivekananda Respected All Religions | M R Narayan Swamy

  14 January 2023, by M R Narayan Swamy

  Swami Vivekananda may be the poster boy of the Hindu right but the revered Hindu monk and philosopher was a vociferous exponent of religious unity and fiercely opposed to aggression in religion.
  In numerous speeches and places, the Swami spoke highly of not only Hindu religion but also Lord Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammad even as he disagreed with some actions of Muslims as well as Hindus.
  He underlined that quarrels over religion arise from the thinking that one alone has the (…)

• Sri Lanka’s disastrous 2022 ends with a sliver of optimism | Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits

  14 January 2023

  by Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits *
  Sri Lanka entered 2022 beset by economic crisis and political upheaval. The economic crisis culminated in Sri Lanka defaulting on payment for the first time. This led to the government being completely cut off from most sources of international funding, including from official multilateral and international commercial sources.
  The government’s effort to blame its debt default.
  Although many Sri Lankans did not understand what default meant, the effects (…)

• Ukraine: I am writing to you on behalf of the trolleybus drivers of Kharkiv | Vitaliy

  14 January 2023

  by Vitaliy, trolleybus driver in Khakiv
  9 January 2023
  I am writing to you on behalf of the trolleybus drivers of depot 2 and Saltovsky trolleybus depot in Kharkiv. For many years there have been problems with massive violations of safety regulations, labour legislation and wages in our companies. Kharkiv trolleybus drivers have the lowest wages in Ukraine, about 45 hryvnias (1.15 euros) per hour. Repeated meetings with depot managers have not produced any positive results. Workers are (…)

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  Letter to the Editor - Implications for authors facing breach of contract by publisher | Indranil De

  14 January 2023

  Letter to the Editor, Mainstream
  January 10, 2023
  Contracting is a standard institutional means to acquire a specified service, of a defined quality and quantity, at an agreed-on price, from a specific provider. It reduced the transaction cost of service delivery. Transaction cost is the managerial cost attributable to limited information, uncertainty, and vendor opportunism. If the transaction cost goes down through contracting services, then the economic exchange would occur. This (…)

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  Entry of Foreign Universities - Statement by AIFUCTO (Jan 12, 2023)

  14 January 2023

  The All India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (AIFUCTO)
  Patna /New Delhi
  Dated: 12.01.2023
  PRESS RELEASE
  Entry of Foreign Universities: A blow to constitution. AIFUCTO decides Black badge protest program across the country on 14th Feb,2023.
  The draft regulations on entry of foreign universities is a serious blow to the educational ethics enshrined in our constitution. The policy will harm, dilute and destroy (…)

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  Rescind the Draft UGC Guidelines | Statement CPI(M)

  14 January 2023

  Communist Party of India (Marxist)
  Saturday, January 7, 2023
  The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
  The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the move of the UGC to facilitate foreign universities and educational institutions to set up campuses in India allowing them autonomy in determining fees and recruitment of teachers after a 90-day approval process. This will lead to creating enclaves of high fees, elitist institutions (…)

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  Review Petition & Bhopal Gas Victims Organisations - Lawyers Note (Jan 12, 2023)

  14 January 2023

  Brief Note on behalf of
  Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan (BGPMUS) &
  Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti (BGPSSS)
  IN
  CURATIVE PETITION NOS. 345-347 OF 2010 IN CA NOS. 3187-3188/1988
  BRIEF NOTE BY SANJAY PARIKH, SENIOR ADVOCATE
  1. Applicants herein - BGPMUS & BGPMSS who represent the gas victims, have filed IA Nos. 22-24 in the present Curative Petition. They were the first to approach the Hon’ble Court ( in W.P(Civil) No. 843/1988) for interim relief (…)

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  Ibarra on Story, ’Soviet Influence on Cuban Culture, 1961-1987: When the Soviets Came to Stay’

  14 January 2023

  Reviewed by Clare Ibarra (University of California, Berkeley)
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  Soviet Influence on Cuban Culture, 1961-1987: When the Soviets Came to Stay by Isabel Story Lanham: Lexington Books 2019. xiii + 231 pp. cloth ISBN 978-1-4985-8011-3 Paperback 978-1-4985-8013-7
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  To date, there is very little scholarship available on what the Cuban-Soviet relationship, outside of high politics, looked like before the Soviet Union fell apart. While Cuban and Soviet historiography as separate (…)