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).
THERE IS LITTLE CHANCE THAT THE NEW YEAR WILL GET ANY BETTER BUT LET US STILL HOPE!
CULTURAL DEGENERATION OF INDIA NO ANSWER
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The existence of feudal cultural values in a society where mass poverty exists together with a boom in upper middle-class wealth exacts a horrific social cost. The main victims are the minorities and women. Read more…
CAN HORROR OVER RAPE PROMPT CULTURAL CHANGE IN INDIA?
Stephanie Nolen
Women demand justice at a vigil in New Delhi Thursday after a young student was raped and left near death in the city Sunday. (photo by Associated Press not reproduced) Read more…
A RAPE CHARGE IS NO BAR FOR POLITICIANS
260 MLAs and MPs contested polls while facing sexual assault charges
Political parties may have joined the entire nation in expressing outrage over the gang rape of a 23-year-old girl in the Capital, but they have never shied away from fielding in elections the candidates facing charges of crimes against women. Read more…
DEMAGOGUES AND DEMOCRACY
Vinod Mubayi
Two demagogues, whose actions and words transformed Indian polity for the worse, have been in the news recently. One of them, Bal Thackeray, who ruled Maharashtra and Mumbai, particularly, as a Mafioso Godfather, is, fortunately, no longer around although his poisonous legacy will likely foul the political atmosphere in the metropolis for many more years. The other, unfortunately, is going on strong; Narendra Modi, the orchestrator of the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, has completed a hat trick by winning the state elections for a third successive time. He can take full credit for transforming Gujarat from a “laboratory of Hindutva” when he began his career 15 years into a full-fledged “factory of Hindutva” it has become today. Read more…
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS OF MINORITIES: Effects and Repercussions
Ram Puniyani
There is a need to introspect about the status of Human rights in India as we observed on more Human rights day, this December 10th. Human rights is a concept which is founded on the democratic norms. Last many decades, after the coming into being of United Nations in particular, the concept of human rights has been picking up in a strong way. The global community through UN has tried to evolve the norms for these rights for all the people of the world. Many a countries, including India are signatories to the norms, charters prepared by UN. Though India is a signatory to these charters, it needs to be seen as to what is the status of human rights of minorities in India? Read more…
SIR SYED DAY AND ITS UTILITY
Asghar Ali Engineer
Seventeen October happens to be Sir Syed’s birth day and every year all those who have studied at Aligarh Muslim University celebrate it with great enthusiasm and arrange dinner on that occasion. Read more…
CASTE, RELIGION AND UNTOUCHABILITY
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Ashaq Ali Wattal hails from a community which has the sole ‘right’ to clean the toilets in Jammu and Kashmir. Hailing from Doda, Wattal moans at the continuous negligence by the state government and its authorities towards the community of manual scavengers in Jammu and Kashmir. Read more…
BABRI MOSQUE DEMOLITION: TWO DECADES LATER
Ram Puniyani
Twenty years ago (December 6, 1992) on this fateful day, Babri Mosque was demolished. This demolition remains a major blot in the history of India. It was the act of demolition by communal forces which reflected the changing polity of India and it in turn further changed the polity in a very adverse direction. Read more…
PERSISTENCE OF A SORE: COMMUNAL VIOLENCE TODAY
Ram Puniyani
The events taking place in different parts of the country in October-November 2012 have been very disturbing to say the least. It is the continuance and recurrence of communal events, communal violence in different parts of the country, in UP, Assam and Hyderabad in particular. Read more…
THE TWELFTH FIVE YEAR PLAN: TAKING “INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT” FROM MYTH TO REALITY
Mazher Hussain
The Planning Commission of India posted the draft Document of the 12th Five year Plan on its website in the first week of December 2012 for feedback from the public before it is adopted by the National Development Council (NDC) on 28 December and declared the Five Year Plan for the country from 2012 to 2017. The stated vision of the Plan Document is “of India moving forward in a way that would ensure a broad-based improvement in living standards of all sections of the people through a growth process which is faster than in the past, more inclusive and also more environmentally sustainable”. This mantra of “faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth”’ is indeed ideal and laudable, but the question is how can we make it possible? More importantly, what could be the consequences if we fail? Read more…
COORDINATION OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS (CDRO)
Press Release 19 December 2012
Police kills unarmed villagers and terms it ‘encounter with Maoists’ in Odisha.
Following an outcry against the alleged killing of five tribals/Maoists in an ‘encounter’, near Bhaliaguda village of Gajapati district of Odisha, a six-member team of individuals representing CDRO and Women against Sexual Violence and State Violence (WSS) visited Odisha from 8 December to 9 December 2012. Our purpose was to understand what had actually unfolded and who the people died were. Read more…
ALL INDIA PEOPLES FRONT
(Supplied by Akhilendra Pratap Singh)
New Delhi, Nov.24. 2012, In a two day meeting cum workshop in GPF organized by the National Campaign Committee where the constituents of NCC and some other democratic organizations resolved to launch All India Peoples Front, retaining NCC. Read more…
WHAT THE AMERICAN MEDIA WON’T TELL YOU ABOUT ISRAEL
Noam Chomsky
The savage punishment of Gaza traces back to decades ago. Read more…
SOVIET INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Was Not a Grand Design But a Grand Entanglement Resulting from Faulty Intelligence, Excessive Secrecy, and a Paralyzed Leadership, According to Conference of Former Decision-Makers. Read more…
CANADA FORMALLY JOINS THE AXIS OF EVIL
Feroz Mehdi
So here we are. It is November 29 2012. November 29 is the international day in solidarity with Palestine. It is also the day when the UN passed the resolution for partition of Palestine in 1947. It is today in 2012 that the World Social Forum-Free Palestine was launched in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is today that the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of giving a non-member state status to Palestine. Read more…
CELEBRATING THE PRINCE OF PEACE IN THE LAND OF GUNS
Michael Moore
Moore writes: “After watching the deranged, delusional National Rifle Association press conference on Friday, it was clear that the Mayan prophecy had come true. Except the only world that was ending was the NRA’s.” Read more…
WHEN RAVI SHANKAR WAS COMRADE ROBUDA
Sankar Ray
One of the maestro’s greatest contributions, the music for Saare Jahan se Achchha, brought him to the Indian People’s Theatre Association. Read more…
EULOGY
“Momma Loves You, Little Man”
The mother and uncle of 6-year-old Noah Pozner delivered a messages at his funeral reflecting on the life of the little boy killed on December 14, 2012 school shooting at Newton, Connecticut, USA. Read more…
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