By-elections in Jammu and Kashmir: Where do they Lead to?
by Gautam SenJammu and Kashmir has just gone through a spell of by-elections affected by murder and mayhem, saturated deployment of security forces, huge public resistance to the electoral process and...
View ArticleThreat to Constitutional Structure
From N.C.'s WritingsA situation of unprecedented confusion synchronising with the onset of serious crisis for the entire constitutional structure of the Indian state presents before the nation today.On...
View ArticleThe Prime Minister's Office: Origin and Evolution
Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister, had only his Special Assistant, M.O. Mathai, to assist him in his work. Mathai had the rank and salary of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India....
View ArticleThe Other “Jallianwala Bagh”
On April 13 India has observed the 97th anniversary of British India's darkest episode, the massacre of innocents at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. That unspeakable act happened in 1919. A year later...
View ArticleIndia should make a last-ditch effort to save Kulbhushan Jadhav from execution
The government will need to go beyond self-righteous displays of ‘muscular diplomacy' to save the brave officer.The death sentence handed down to former Indian Navy Commander Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav...
View ArticleEVMs, Rapes and Kidnappings in UP
MUSINGSThis entire week during my interactive talks with persons from Uttar Pradesh, there has been focus on three prime aspects: Their doubts about the very ‘proper authentic' functioning of the...
View ArticleCheckmated by Teesta: Hasina Visit and the Trajectory of India-Bangladesh Ties
by Purusottam BhattacharyaThe much hyped state visit of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, concluded on April 10, 2017 with feelings of satisfaction on both sides barring the much...
View ArticleApex Court Fast-tracks Ayodhya Trial
EDITORIALWith the Supreme Court today asking BJP patriarch L.K. Advani and his colleagues, notably Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, to stand trial for criminal conspiracy in the demolition of the...
View ArticleTribute to Ahmed Kathrada and Excerpts from an interview he gave in February...
TRIBUTEAhmed Mohamed Kathrada, who passed away at the Medical Center in Johannesburg on March 28, 2017 at the age of 87, was one of the best known freedom fighters of South Africa who waged a steadfast...
View ArticleThe Original Propagator of ‘Coercive Diplomacy'
BOOK REVIEWndia's Foreign Policy: Selected Writings by Prof Manohar Lal Sondhi; Editor: Harsh V. Pant; Har-Anand Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi; 2017; pages 224; Price: 695.As the space for...
View ArticleGovindrao Talwalkar
TRIBUTEby Kumar KetkarCulturally and socially, Govind Talwalkar was a quintessential middle class Brahmin, who grew up in Dombivali, then a small town in the Thane district, close to Mumbai. In the...
View ArticleA Curious Commonality Underpining Social, Global Events
by M.A. SofiAs should be gleaned from the (sub)title of this write-up, it is intended to contend that howsoever randomly events may be seen to unfold at different levels of their occurrence in the...
View ArticleAping the Adversary
From N.C.'s WritingsIt is surprising how intelligent people in politics sometimes take up positions which should logically belong to their adversaries.The Muslim League in 1940 picked up the so-called...
View ArticleThe Indo-US nuclear deal is dead. Amen
The Westinghouse company's bankruptcy filing underscores that the entire range of criticism that was levelled by the Left in our country against the Indo-US nuclear deal has been proven right. The...
View ArticleThree Paths to Media Salvation or Perfidy
by Amitava R. Sinha RoyNewspapers are at an inflection point today as readership habits are changing due to digital adoption being faster than expected. The future of the print media is at stake with...
View ArticleCoverage of Africa in Indian Press
MEDIAby Shreejay SinhaThis article was written quite sometime ago but could not be used earlier due to unavoidable reasons. It is now being published as its relevance has been enhanced in the wake of...
View ArticleResponse to Barun Das Gupta's Article on Teesta River's Water-sharing
COMMUNICATIONBarun Das Gupta deserves our thanks and appreciation for his very thoughtful article, titled “Indo-Bangla Teesta River Treaty: A Human Problem” published in Mainstream dated April 14-20...
View ArticleAlmost unnoticed, our democracy is getting abridged; is perpetual one-party...
IMPRESSIONSFact No. 1: Donations by companies to political parties is the biggest contributor to corruption in India. All parties acknowledge this.Fact No. 2: Elimination of corruption has been a top...
View ArticleProtesting
I'm a poor mortal dwelling in a city ghetto,working hard for a living all day long;what I earn suffices only for daily needs.Induced by a fellow dweller next door,I take part in rallies to augment...
View ArticleMorari Bapu's Ram
The usual picture that one would see of Ram would be with Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman, of what is called the Ram Darbar. It was not a tradition to have an isolated picture or idol of Ram. Even the...
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