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: PLUMBING THE MORAL DEPTHS
Vinod Mubayi
How low can the country go? To what moral depths can the “world’s largest democracy” descend? These questions emerge naturally in the aftermath of two horrific events: the rape and killing of a young Dalit woman in Hathras, UP and its cover up by the state police as well as the arrest of an 83-year old priest Father Stan Swamy on charges so preposterous they strain credulity.
Read more…BJP’S ‘FREE COVID VACCINE FOR VOTES’ OFFER FOR BIHAR RAISES CONCERNS OF HEALTH POLICY, ETHICS
Vasudevan Mukunth and Siddharth Varadarajan
The first item on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto in Bihar, ahead of the assembly polls set to kick off there next week, is that if the party is elected to power in the state, it will arrange for free COVID-19 vaccines. It is hard to overstate how appalling this promise is, assuming it will be fulfilled.
Read more…ADITYANATH ALWAYS FLAUNTED HIS BIGOTRY, NOW HIS WAR ON MINORITIES IS IN FULL SWING
Harsh Mander and Amitanshu Verma
What is going on in Uttar Pradesh? The constitution of India, at least in principle, still applies to the state. No emergency has been imposed.
Read more…MALNUTRITION AND FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
Vasanthi Raman
The Prime Minister’s pronouncements on the occasion of World Food Day commemorated the setting up of the Food and Agricultural Organization on October 16, 1945 and hailed not only the achievements of the food agencies of the UN, but also India’s supposed role in its achievements.
Read more…STAN SWAMY HAS STOOD WITH THE OPPRESSED. THE STATE CONSIDERS HIM AN ENEMY
Harsh Mander
The true character of a state is perhaps best exposed by its choice of enemies. In its latest strike, the entire might of the state has converged on an 83-year-old Jesuit priest, who has devoted his life to struggling with the most oppressed among the Indian people — the Adivasis — against corporate and state power. The government leaves no doubt about who it despises and fears. And who it stands with.
Read more…BECOMING KAMALA DEVI HARRIS: WHEN BRAHMIN AND BLACK IDENTITIES CONVERGE
Radhika Parameswaran and Pallavi Rao
Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden’s nomination of Kamala Devi Harris for vice president has brought international attention to a political figure fusing Indian American and African American identities.
Read more…TIME TO STAND UP AGAINST FASCISM IS NOW
Arundhati Roy
The most rotten part of this country is the mainstream media. This is the most tragic part of this country, the most shameful part of this country.
Read more…INDIA’S HUNGER PANGS
EPW Editorial
The NDA government’s record in controlling hunger is dismal despite rising stocks of cereal.
Read more…BASMATI BATTLE: PAKISTAN FIGHTS INDIAN BID FOR EU RECOGNITION OF RICE
Daniel Boffey
A new ingredient has been added to the boiling pot that is the relationship between India and Pakistan: basmati rice. Pakistan’s government has vowed to “vehemently” oppose an application by India for the long-grain aromatic rice to be recognised by the EU as being grown exclusively in specific regions of the Indian subcontinent.
Read more…THE DISCOLOURATION OF “GREEN GROWTH” IN PAKISTAN
Sara Abraham
Pakistan’s weakened Left discourse over the last few decades has meant that numerous areas of social and ecological life, such as the life of women, or the natural environment, have fallen into the hands of well-heeled members of civil society.
Read more…BOOK REVIEW: PIONEER OF MARXIST SOCIAL HISTORY
Pavel Tomar
Eric Hobsbawm: A Life in History by Richard J Evans, London: Little Brown, 2019; pp xiii + 785, ?954 (hardcover).
Read more… Top - Home