Conscience of a Progressive Polity
November 3 this year marks N.C.'s ninetyninth birth anniversary. He was born on November 3, 1913. On this occasion we are reproducing a few pieces written after his demise (on June 27, 1998) by some of...
View ArticleSyria: Waiting for Someone named Obama
Even as German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who was on a visit to China, diverted himself to Istanbul in a mission on October 13 aimed at tamping down Turkish-Syrian tensions, Der Spiegel calmly...
View ArticleOpen Letter to Pravda
FROM N.C.'S WRITINGSThe following open letter to Pravda, the Soviet Communist Party's daily organ, was written fifty years ago by N.C. as an ‘Indian Marxist' of 20 years' membership of the Communist...
View ArticleOn the Soviet Stand on India - China Border Conflict
Contrary to the widespread view that the former Soviet Union maintained neutrality all through the Indo-China border conflict, this paper argues that the Soviet position on the issue evolved from a...
View ArticleLessons from 1962: Is 50 Years Not Enough?
Institutions and nations rarely if ever learn from successes, but it is possible and necessary to learn from institutional or national failure. This is particularly true of military operations. Today,...
View ArticleAn Appeal for Legal Help
Dr Sunilam (ex-MLA) has been a consistent fighter for the cause of farmers for the last several years. He and two of his colleagues, Shesh Rao Suryavanshi and Prahalad Aggarwal, of the Kisan Sangharsh...
View ArticleThe Coming Famine In India
Dr Binayak Sen, an internationally renowned medical practitioner and social activist (a leading figure in the People's Union for Civil Liberties), was incarcerated in Chhattisgarh and held in detention...
View ArticleWashington's Pakistan Meltdown
Dilip Hiro, a South Asia expert, is the author of 33 books, the most recent being Apocalyptic Realm: Jihadists in South Asia (Yale University Press, New Haven and London). He contributes regularly for...
View ArticleRemembering Indira Gandhi Today
October 31 this year marked the twentyeighth anniversary of Indira Gandhi's assassination. On this occasion we are carrying the following excerpts from an article published in this journal's October...
View ArticleDestroying the Edifice
The PM's major reshuffle of the Union Cabinet and Council of Ministers has raised more dust and generated a bigger storm than what he had bargained for. The two most significant developments in this...
View ArticleInviting Multinationals: Need for Introspection by Senior Congress Leaders
At the November 4 rally the Congress re-affirmed its strong commitment to outlining an agenda of so-called ‘economic reforms' led by the growing inroads of multinational companies and foreign...
View ArticleJudiciary as Reliance Gift Horse
by Sandhya JainWhile appreciating India Against Corruption's putting the spotlight on Reliance Industries, its face-off with the CAG and reputed role in the exit of Jaipal Reddy from the Petroleum...
View ArticleTribute to Paul Kurtz - Secular Humanist Philosopher
TRIBUTEby Ravela SomayyaThe sudden death of Dr Paul Kurtz on October 20 in the USA at the age of 86 is a great loss to the world humanist movement. He was a renowned philosopher and founder editor of...
View ArticleMao made the Blueprint for Chinese Aggression of 1962
Howsoever absurd and tendentious it may seem to top official Communists from the CPI-M to Maoists and their fellow-travellers, the strategy for invading India on October 20 was finalised at the Tenth...
View ArticleAs Egos Clashed in India, China Won: The Untold Story is Told Again
Who were the guilty men of India's China war? This year, for the first time, the Defence Ministry paid homage to the soldiers who perished in that horror 50 years ago. But official reluctance to face...
View ArticleAhmedabad-based Jesuit's Letter to British Envoy
You must be watching on your small screens the great political circus taking place in New Delhi. One thief letting off the other. Or simply grabbing him by the collar and throwing him, here and there...
View ArticleWhat does it Mean when the UK High Commissioner visits Modi?
Rightwing Hindutva social forces may well have collaborated with the colonising Britishers during the high noon of India's Congress-led freedom movement, their standard polemic after Independence has...
View ArticleReply to Grover Furr: Senseless Defence of Stalinist Repressions
COMMUNICATIONI must first thank Mainstream for starting some kind of debate on the Stalin question.I read through Grover Furr's reply (Mainstream, October 27, 2012) to my review of his book (that...
View ArticleThe Red Vignettes
Remembering October Revolution on its 95th AnniversarySeventh November this year marks the 95th anniversary of the historic October Revolution. Although the politico-economic situation in Russia has...
View ArticleQuestions of Freedom and People's Emancipation — IV
Kobad Ghandy from Tihar Jail is writing on the concept of freedom vis-s-vis present-day society as also in relation to a future just order, bringing out some causes for the failure of the erstwhile...
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