The grim impact of the coronavirus, lockdown, cyclones Amphan and Nisarg that lashed both coasts have cast a shadow over the first year of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term. Still, it was an eventful year, beginning with the defanging of Article 370, scrapping of Article 35-A, and bifurcation of … Read More
As the highly contagious Covid-19 torments the nation, some “eminent” economists advised the Centre to nationalise all private assets of above-poverty-line citizens (cash, real estate, property, bonds, etc.) to fund their ideas. One doesn’t know if this negates that other great panacea for all economic ills – privatization of public … Read More
As the coronavirus moves remorselessly across the world, and medical experts surmise that it could be with us for another two-three years, its lasting legacy will be pain for those at the bottom rung of society, those marginally above, and those in the middle. With three successive lockdowns India has … Read More
In an interview to German television Deutsche Welle (On April 17, 2020), writer-activist Arundhati Roy accused the Government of India “of exploiting the coronavirus outbreak to inflame tensions between Hindus and Muslims”, adding dramatically, “the situation is approaching genocidal”. Given their experience with a democratically elected leader in 1933, one … Read More
Russian-American scholar, Vladislav Krasnov, has kindly translated my Corona column in Russian and circulated on a select group of intellectuals. Sharing:- * Корона апокалипсис Jain крат.doc Вторник, 14 апреля 2020 года | Автор: Сандхья Джайн КОРОННЫЙ АПОКАЛИПСИС в ИНДИИ (Адаптировпанный перевод с английского: В. Краснов) https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/columnists/the-corona-apocalypse.htm В условиях, когда страны … Read More
Some contours of the post-Coronavirus world are clearly visible. The nation-state has regained legitimacy; the case for free flow of refugees/immigrants across a borderless world has collapsed; and governments are facing the critical test of whether they can rally their people behind them to overcome the disease. India has performed … Read More
There is a strange coincidence, if not synergy, between some Twitter handles calling for a national government to deal with the Coronavirus health crisis even though the central government enjoys a staggering majority, and the sudden exodus of thousands of casual labour from jhuggi clusters across Delhi on Saturday, March … Read More
Afghanistan’s peace process has stumbled as talks between the government and Taliban in Oslo, Norway, could not begin on March 10, 2020, as President Ashraf Ghani’s rival, Abdullah Abdullah, held a parallel swearing-in ceremony on March 9, 2020, repudiating the results of the September 2019 election. Abdullah had challenged the … Read More
When Vinayak Damodar Savarkar passed away on February 26, 1966, at the ripe age of 82, despite health wracked by the dehumanizing conditions in Cellular Jail, Andamans (July 1911-May 1921), further imprisonment in Alipore, Ratnagiri and Yerawada jails (till January 1924), some stalwarts remembered his contribution to the freedom movement. … Read More
Even if we overlook the facts about which nation is “occupying” Kashmir, by stating that there is “no difference between Gallipoli and occupied Kashmir”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unambiguously signalled his intention to emerge as “imam” of the new (pseudo) Caliphate he hopes to lead by 2023, the centenary … Read More
