Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
NORTH-EAST TO SOUTH-WEST: REGIONAL DISPARITY AND POVERTY TAKE A VIOLENT TURN
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
The violent incidents in Kokrajhar in Assam, where hundreds of people, most of them Bengalis who happened to be Muslim, were killed by a segment of the Bodo tribals, were sad and scary enough. But their aftermath, especially in major cities like Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi, could be more threatening to the survival of India as a nation, unless some major steps are taken by the government to address the problem. Read more…
A STUNNING VERDICT [WORTH REJOICING]
(The Hindu, August 30, 2012)
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and its various affiliates including governments run by its political wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) have committed many crimes and have been let off many a times. Also so far the murderers of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 are roaming free. The conviction of BJP legislator Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi along with 30 others for their role in the Naroda Patia massacre in a recent court judgment restores some confidence in Indian proclaimed secularism. Read more…
OUTBREAK OF VIOLENCE IN MUMBAI – ASSAM AND BURMA KILLING OF MUSLIMS
Asghar Ali Engineer
The way things were happening for last few weeks it was not surprising that violence on such scale took place. It was, as if, in store, large scale propaganda was going on that Muslims are being killed all over the world. There is conspiracy to kill Muslims everywhere and on Bodo-Muslim clashes and about Rohingiya Muslims in Burma prayers were being organized in every mosque and SMSs were circulating about it. Urdu papers were carrying articles saying there is world-wide conspiracy to kill Muslims articles simply appealing to emotions, not to reason. Read more…
PREVENTING SECTARIAN VIOLENCE: ROLE OF STATE
Ram Puniyani
The horrific violence in Assam has once again brought our attention to the malaise of communal violence in India. In the recent times one has witnessed such a violence in parts of UP, (Kosi Kalan, Barailly, Pratapgarh) and also in Gopalgargh in Rajasthan. In most of these acts of violence one has to confront the reality that there is a lapse on the part of state, the police and civic administration, due to which the violence sustains itself after the initial spark has been thrown by someone. The present spate (July, 2012) of series of acts of violence reconfirms that there is a lack of accountability, there is state complicity and impunity due to which the innocents are done to death and the culprits generally get away. Read more…
RIOTS & THE BOGEY OF BANGLADESHIS
Banajit Hussain
Many Muslims from erstwhile East Bengal settled in Assam in early 20th century. But vested interests are out to prove that their descendants today are illegal migrants. Read more…
STATUS OF MINORITIES: A TALE OF TWO NEIGHBORS
Ram Puniyani
Pakistan and India, these neighbors got Independence in the mid August 1947. Today 55 years after the Independence where do these two major countries of the subcontinent stand vis a vis their religious minorities, is the question which we need to answer to ensure a better and more democratic area. Read more…
THE STATE OF MUSLIMS IN GUJARAT TODAY
Commentary
Despite the continued ghettoization of Muslims in a polarized Gujarat, the Muslim community in the state has through sheer hard work shown some advances in education and wealth generation. The denial of justice to the victims of the 2002 Gujarat pogroms, despite strenuous efforts by civil society activists and interventions by the higher judiciary, remains a major issue for the community. Read more…
OVER 4,000 WORKERS PROTEST MARUTI MASS SACKING
Times of India, |Aug 18, 2012
Gurgaon: Around 4,000 workers from the Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera industrial belt gathered in the city on Friday in protest against Maruti Suzuki’s mass dismissal of over a third of its workforce, who were found to have been complicit in last month’s violence at the carmaker’s Manesar plant. Read more…
INDIA: DOMESTIC DROUGHT LOOMS LARGER THAN GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS
Jason Overdorf
Insulated from the international market, India’s massive stockpile of food grains will see it through the crisis.
The prospect of a failed monsoon at home poses bigger problems for India than the spike in global prices for corn, soybeans and wheat resulting from America’s worst drought since the days of the dustbowl, agriculture. Read more…
INDIA: FOOD ROTS AS PEOPLE STARVE
Jason Overdorf
The Indian government stockpiles grain to prop up prices and prevent a food crisis. The trouble is the crisis is already here — and has been for years. Read more…
HYPE OVER SUBSTANCE: THE MACHINERY BEHIND THE MODI MYTH
Sanjukta Pathak (Ahmedabad)
Is Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi really the great achiever he is made out to be or is he a grand myth manufactured by an incredibly efficient public relation machinery? The jury is still out on the first one. There are many ways to interpret `achievement’ and given the extreme irrational excitement any discussion on Modi evokes, it is futile to expect a satisfactory answer. The second question is interesting though. Read more…
KILLING OF INNOCENT SIKHS IN WISCONSIN
Vinod Mubayi
Six innocent Sikhs, including two children, were shot down and butchered in cold blood by a white supremacist while they were preparing for religious services at their gurudwara in Oak Creek, WI. American media explained it as an issue of mistaken identity. The shooter mistook the Sikhs for Muslims because the Sikh men wear beards, as if killing innocent Muslims would have been any less reprehensible. Read more…
BOOK REVIEW: Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
Reviewed by Michael D’Alimonte
Integrating three years of research and reporting, Katherine Boo has streamlined the complex issues and social dynamics of a Mumbai slum into the compelling narrative, Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Set in Annawadi, a slum in Mumbai surrounded by modern airports and hotels, Boo recounts the lives and hardships of its many residents in a manner that is both striking and yet very familiar. Despite the fact that the entire plot and its driving factors are based in foreign affairs and cultures, Western readers will find that the tale is surprisingly relatable. Read more…
PRESERVING THE PASSION OF INDIA’S ROOTS MUSIC
Nida Najar
Raneri, India — In this tiny village almost 400 miles southwest of New Delhi, where women wash dishes in the sand to conserve water, and electricity is scarce, Lakha Khan sat on the floor of a stone hut, legs crossed and white turban in place. There he coaxed a bright, high-pitched, dizzyingly fast melody from his violin-like Sarangi. Read more…
SOUTH AFRICA COMMUNIST PARTY ON ATTACK ON MINERS
Statement by General Secretary Blade Nzimande Read more…