We Don’t Need US Advice, US Warships or the Anti-Nation N Deal

The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has almost promised that the US-India nuclear deal would be finally concluded by the end of this year — if only India dumps the non-aligned movement (NAM) and toes the US line on the Doha round of trade negotiations. The NAM had “lost its meaning” and India should “move past old ways of thinking and old ways of acting”, she tutored us. Well, before telling this to others, should not the US do the same itself?......Full text

Conscience and Cross-Voting in the Presidential Polls

The ironies of “conscience” in our parliamentary and public life played out dramatically in the Presidential elections. The CPI(M) vouched for the secular conscience of the Congress nominee. The BJP leadership appealed to voters to heed the “voice of their conscience” to vote across party lines. And wonder of wonders, it was the communal conscience of that Shiv Sena, the closest ideological ally of the BJP in the NDA, which was moved to support the secular candidate selected from among various Congress possibles by the CPI-CPI(M)!.......Full text

Woman President Equals Women’s Empowerment?

It appears that Indian women are poised to become even more ‘empowered’ with the triumphant victory of the UPA candidate, Pratibha Patil. The election of Patil, we are being told by the Congress, Left and other assorted secular allies, is a truly historic one. Sonia Gandhi has already made it to the Time’s list of most powerful people in the world. Indian women can presumably now take consolation from these and give up their demand for greater political representation—the slogan of 33 percent reservation can now be consigned to the dustbins of history......Full text

1857: Some Reflections

We are in the 150th anniversary year of 1857. The debate over how to characterize it continues, though its aspects have changed. Earlier the dominant debate was over whether or not 1857 had a national character. However, the debate has transcended Mutiny or Gadar paradigm. It is now broadly accepted as National revolt or First War of National Independence. Now there are some attempts to reject it by branding it as a feudal reaction....Full text

Corruption in Kerala CPI(M) – Is it an Aberration?

A corruption scandal is rocking the CPI(M) in Kerala. The CPI(M)’s Malayalam organ Deshabhimani has accepted two crores of rupees out of total 3.2 crores, popularly known as “bonds”, from a lottery tycoon, S Martin who is accused of illegal operations and faces criminal charges. The dispute is not about raising money for the organ or the ‘quantum’ of the funds but its dubious source and, in turn, its policy of not relying on toiling masses for the expenses incurred by the state organ of a communist party....Full text

Punitive Purges of Student Activists

The public lynching of Prof. Sabharwal on an Ujjain campus is the symbol of ‘student politics’ at its worst – and it is this image that University authorities evoke as justification for punitive strikes and purges of student leaders. But recent punitive purges of student activists on campuses like Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and Kashi Vidyapeeth in Varanasi indicate that rather than criminal elements, it is socially committed student movements that are at the receiving end of a crackdown....Full text

Mining Policy: A Few Burning Questions

While post-liberalisation, metal companies sell their product based on international market price, they continue to get access to minerals at royalty fixed historically at an abysmally low rate in comparison to the market price of the minerals.The royalty that is recovered for it is less than 1% of its market price It is urgent that this huge and unjustifiable subsidy be checked by linking the royalty for all the minerals with the market price, and making public the process of awarding and renewal of mining rights....Full text

Dollar Nationalism, Dollar Secessionism

An annual global study conducted by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, two global financial advisories, has some good news for India. Globalisation and the much-vaunted New Economic Policies are finally taking India places. India now has more than 100,015 ‘dollar millionaires’ – individuals who are termed as ‘High Net Worth Individuals’ because their net worth is over a million dollars. This “close-knit community” guides the way in which India’s rulers view the dollar daddy USA. Both in India and in the USA, this sizeable class is a force in shaping Indo-US relations....Full text

Delhi Government’s Transport and Road Policy: Urban Planning for Whom?

The Delhi government’s sudden attempts to change the face of the nation’s capital at the cost of the city’s poor have exposed the anti-people character of the Congress. The beautification drive with the slogan of ‘Clean Delhi, Green Delhi’ has created islands of greenery that remain cocooned amidst sprawling shopping complexes and mega malls, multiplex theatres and big flyovers, sky buses and fast track cars where the common man has no place....Full text

Red Salute to Comrade Jita Kaur

Comrade Jita Kaur passed away on 23 June after a battle with cancer. She was a mass leader whose life’s work in the party spanned a wide range – from Gorakhpur in eastern UP, to Lucknow and Delhi and finally in rural Punjab – that would be unusual for anyone, and is especially remarkable for a woman.....Full text

Bhoodan Unmasked

Many states have already passed laws amending the land ceiling laws; some like West Bengal have attempted to do so, but have failed to push through such amendments. In such an atmosphere, the Nitish Government’s announcement to set up a Land Reform Commission appeared to go against that trend. Similarly, as a result of talks with the Maoists, the Andhra Pradesh Congress Government set up a committee to look into implementation of land reforms in the state. These measures only proved that land remains a burning political question, defying all attempts to declare it irrelevant......Full text