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).
EDITORIAL: 100 YEARS OF THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION
Vinod Mubayi and Raza Mir
The so-called “October Revolution” of 1917 actually dates to November 7, getting its name because November 7 was designated October 25 in the Old Style Calendar. So this issue of INSAF is the closest to the centenary celebration. One of India’s leading commentators on the left has written an important article, reproduced below, that summarizes the impact of the Bolshevik revolution on India and the current status of the left in Indian politics. Read more…
AFTER ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, WHERE DOES THE LEFT STAND ?
Sumanta Banerjee
The history of the 1917 Russian Revolution and its aftermath, can be divided into four phases: Read more…
THE REPUBLIC OF COWARDICE
Pratap Bhanu Mehta
The controversy over the film Padmavati once again reminded us that the fragility of our identities, the layers of resentment that constitute our sense of self, the emboldening of the most lumpen elements in our society, intellectual confusions over the law, and the sheer lack of constitutional courage in most of our politicians make India increasingly unfit for liberty. Read more…
WHY ABBA MUST GO
Reetika Khera
Aadhaar-based Biometric Authentication does nothing in the battle against graft — there are better alternatives. Read more…
INDIAN MEDIA FACING PERSECUTION AND CONTROL
Pushkar Raj
The filing of a criminal defamation suit of 1 billion rupees (US$15.3 million) against news portal The Wire for publishing a story about the accumulation of wealth by the son of the president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a revelation of how the Indian media are battling for credibility and survival. Read more…
THE REVOLUTION AND RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM
Rohini Hensman
Unlike Western imperialism, which colonised overseas territories, the Tsarist empire expanded by annexing adjacent territories from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. Read more…
THE QAU STRIKE EXPLAINED
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Quaid-e-Azam University has finally reopened although student attendance is low and university buses are anchored off campus to avoid being damaged once again by protesters. The days ahead are uncertain. Read more…
WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THE CRISIS OF THE LEFT IN INDIA?
Roshan Kishore
The Communist Part of India (Marxist)’s atrophy in West Bengal has dealt a body blow to the Left’s influence in Indian politics. If the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, is to make a comeback, it will have to regain its lost hegemony in West Bengal. Read more…
STORIES OF A RAJPUT QUEEN
Harbans Mukhia
The Mewar royal descendant Vishwajeet Singh’s recent differentiation, in a newspaper article, between history and fiction with regard to the film Padmavati, came as a refreshing surprise. I recount here the historical facts and the popular versions of the story. Read more…
GAINED IN TRANSLATION: THE REMNANTS OF A RAGA
Manglesh Dabral
When I arrived in Delhi, I suddenly felt that I have been banished from a raga. When I saw the last tree of my village diminishing away, the absence of that raga made its home within me. Read more…
ECONOMY: DEMONETISATION – A YEAR AFTER: A SURGICAL PLUNDER
Pritam Singh
Demonetisation, hyped as an economic policy of ‘surgical strike’ against black money and terrorism, can be viewed with hindsight as more of ‘carpet bombing’ on Indian people especially those in the informal economy. Read more…
BANKING ON BAILOUT: RECAPITALISATION WILL INCREASE GOVERNMENT’S FISCAL DEFICIT
Pritam Singh
THE NDA government has spun a narrative that seems to have dazzled some observers that this government is now, after demonetisation and GST fiascos, embarking on bold economic growth measures. Read more…
AYODHYA DISPUTE: SUPREMACY OF CONSTITUTION OR FAITH?
Irfan Engineer
Babri Masjid is once again in news. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has taken an initiative to bring all stake holders for negotiating an out of court settlement. Apparently the initiative is in his personal capacity. However, Sri Sri Ravi Sahnkar is well connected with the BJP leaders. Read more…
LABOUR’S LOST AGENCY: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LABOUR MOVEMENT IN SRI LANKA?
Balasingham Skanthakumar
Early each morning at the main bus stands of the Biyagama and Katunayake export processing zones near Colombo’s international airport, a few thousand men mill around. Their purpose is not travel but to meet the ‘brokers’ or representatives of recruitment agents, who hire on the spot based on ‘orders’ for workers received from factory human-resource managers. Read more…
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