West Bengal: Khagragarh Blast — A New Challenge for Security and Harmony
Burdwan EpisodeThe of grenade explosion in the first floor of a rented house at Khagragarh in West Bengal's Burdwan town on October 2, 2014, in between the Durga Puja and Iduzzuha festivals, is...
View ArticleHis Master's Voices: They Are Loud
Ah, those cocksure voices on prime time, strident and self-righteous in their condemnation of whatever be politically out of season—most of all, even the least suggestion that what is with nauseating...
View ArticleTo Hoodwink and Much More
MUSINGSLately this particular news report has hit: 53 per cent of the prison population in India is that of Muslims, Dalits and tribals. Shocking! For two reasons—for one, these three communities are...
View ArticleArbitrary Budget Cuts in Social Sectors
Recently several reports in leading news-papers have drawn attention to the possibility of significant but arbitrary cuts in budgetary allocations for social sectors. On November 27, The Hindu...
View ArticleWould Kashmir's ‘overwhelming desire for change' bring about a Change for the...
IMPRESSIONSThe good news is that the first round of polling in Jammu and Kashmir saw the highest turnout in the State's electoral history. The overall percentage was 71 but in some constituencies it...
View ArticleThe Curse of Caste
By any yardstick, the participation of US President Barrack Obama at the Republic Day parade in January is the recognition of India's growing stature. His phone call to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz...
View ArticleStocktaking before the Fifteenth Indo-Russian Summit
Russian President Vladimir Putin would pay an official visit to India from December 10 to 12, 2014 to participate in the fifteenth Indo-Russian annual summit. Russia is the first country and was the...
View ArticleA Pretender to the Throne
Ever since the day Devendra Fadnavis, at present holding the office of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, failed to establish his majority in the State Assembly according to law, he has been running...
View ArticleSelf-inflicted Wounds Seldom Heal
I am reminded of this whenever I think of the transfer policy of High Court judges being followed by the Supreme Court. No doubt the power of transfer from one High Court to another is to be found in...
View ArticleBhopal Tragedy: Thirty Years After
COMMENTARYThirty years ago on the night of December 2-3, 1984 the deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the Union Carbide's fertiliser plant in Bhopal causing a disaster beyond one's...
View ArticleDivisive Politics and Attack on Secular Polity
POLITICAL NOTEBOOKRecently BJP President Amit Shah told a party rally at Kolkata that the leadership of the Trinamul Congress was involved in the Khagragarh (Burdwan) blast and that the Saradha chit...
View ArticleUnderstanding Ram Pal Phenomenon
Haryana has once again been in the news for the wrong reasons. The challenge to the authority of the State and judiciary by the self-styled Sant Ram Pal of Satlok Ashram of Barwala (Hisar) had created...
View ArticleKabir Kala Manch, Bangalore Police and Free Speech
The Kabir Kala Manch, a cultural organisation that was formed in Pune, Maharashtra in 2002 in the wake of the Gujarat riots, was in Bangalore on November 21, 2014 for a performance in St. Joseph's...
View ArticleSafe Nuclear Power — Fact And Myth
The nuclear energy programmes of many countries are either at a standstill or are actually declining. Prominent among these are the USA, Sweden and Denmark, and most recently Germany. The reasons for...
View ArticleThe Uses of the Past
Almost all people seek to justify their beliefs and actions by invoking the past. They look to the past also to find ways to claim that they are better than others. They speak of past glories, whether...
View ArticleCommunal Harmony
by Sadhan MukherjeeThe majoritarian approach to our body politic today presages a great danger to our communal harmony. These two words—communal harmony—represent our national ethos which is...
View ArticleJAMMU AND KASHMIR POLL 2014: Wonders Will Never Cease
Here is what seems to be the historic irony of the coming election season in Jammu & Kashmir: that the “nationalists” should be pinning their prospect of success on a silent collaboration of the...
View ArticleKashmir: Long Haul / Ayodhya and Hindu-Muslim Unity
From N.C.'s WritingsKashmir: Long HaulCan the light be at last seen at the end of the tunnel in Kashmir? This question has now come up with the statement by the Union Home Minister that the time to...
View ArticleA force like INA needed
The Indian National Army (INA) was the force which Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had raised when he was living in Singapore after escaping British rule in India. The force was meant to be an armed hand of...
View ArticleStray Thoughts of a Human Rights Lawyer on Human Rights Day
The following article has been written on the occasion of the Human Rights Day (December 10).For those behind barsThe best moments in my life are those when I stood outside a jail waiting for my client...
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