2014 General Elections marked a Watershed in India's Post-independence...
For the first time a non-Congress political party, the BJP, was able to get an absolute majority on its own in Parliament. The BJP had in the past—first for 13 days, then for 13 months, and later for a...
View ArticleS 301: Keeping Alive Gunboat Diplomacy
by Rohini PandurangiThe recent decision of the United States (US) to continue to keep India in the ‘priority watch list' thereby refraining from designating it as a ‘priority foreign country' saves...
View ArticleThe Political Economy of Change
When a supposition or a system of ideas is being put in place, there is no choice but to debate the exceptionable or the inscrutable through available channels. The nuanced differentiation of an...
View ArticleModi's Pronouncements and Ground Reality
EDITORIALHaving won absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, PM Narendra Modi, while speaking on the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, struck a non-partisan note in both...
View ArticleSocialism in the Indian Ocean
The small island of Mauritius, literally a dot in the Indian Ocean, with a checqured history of people migrating becomes an interesting spectacle of Indian as well as European social history,...
View ArticleFrom the Pen of a Newsman with Photographic Memory
review articleby Bishwajit SenBhanga Pather Ranga Dhulaye (In the Crimson Dust of the Broken Road) [Memoirs] by Sukharanjan Sengupta; Punashcha, Kolkata; price: Rs 250.IThe autobiography is a strange...
View ArticleCaste reflects the genius of India: Gandhi. Beware of Gandhi: Ambedkar. Who...
IMPRESSIONSGracious words in print and speech marked Jawaharlal Nehru's 50th death anniversary recently. Narendra Modi himself, a day after taking oath as Prime Minister, twittered his respects on the...
View ArticleAn Assessment of Girls Education under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan
WOMEN‘S WORLDby Shruti SharmaThe way to empowerment and emancipation is through education. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that education be given to all. The makers of our Constitution...
View ArticleIdeological-political Renewal and Revamp needed for Left Revival
by Prasenjit BoseWithin a week of the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results in India last month, elections to the EU parliament were held (May 22-25) across 28 European countries. While gains...
View ArticleNigeria's Missing Daughters
When nearly 300 girls were abducted from a government senior secondary school in the north-eastern district town of Chibok a month ago, the mass kidnapping failed to make headlines. This is a stunning...
View ArticleRemembering Advocate Mukul Sinha
TRIBUTEby Mahtab AlamOn May 12, while I was still trying to cope with the sad demise of noted human rights lawyer Advocate Purushotham Poojary, in Mangalore, Karnataka, I was informed of yet another...
View ArticleLeft and Liberals Failed to Address Modi's Constituencies
by Biswajit RoyNow that Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister of India, it's high time for some honest introspection by the Left and liberals of all hues on our collective failure to offer even a...
View ArticleReflections on the Constitution
From N.C.'s WritingsThe following is the second-last article of N.C. to appear in this journal. It was published in Mainstream (March 21, 1998). He passed away on June 27 of the same year.Reflections...
View ArticleNeed for Altering Discourse in Contemporary Times
While the 21st century appears more democratic, inclusive, and pluralist, the contem-porary global world has witnessed resurgence of new forms of discrimination, exclusion, polarisation and domination....
View ArticleCorporatisation of the Media
I was not surprised when television channels did not cover the taking over of a large television news network by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited. Most channels—roughly around 300—are owned...
View ArticleModi-wave and Dalit-Card's Impact in Hindi Belt!
Not too long ago, most political analysts assumed that the era of single-party govern-ment was now history. But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s stunning victory has conveyed a strong message....
View ArticleTribute: Janaky Thevar
Janaky Thevar, Commander of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, the first all-women's military wing of the world and part of the Indian National Army, passed away in Kuala Lumpur recently. An amazing heroine...
View ArticleWhen Iraq was Iraq
MUSINGSNear complete mess in Iraq. The once flourishing land is breaking apart, as rebel groups are taking over. Without taking you towards those details of the grand past of an unparalleled...
View ArticleIraqi Communist Party's Call
The following are excerpts from a statement on the crisis in Iraq issued by the Political Bureau of the Iraqi Communist Party in Baghdad on June 10, 2014.It is truly the battle of the homeland that is...
View ArticleWhat Events in Iraq Show
EDITORIALAs in his pronouncements last week in both Houses of Parliament where he struck a bipartisan note, PM Narendra Modi's statements in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, which he chose as his first...
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