In May 2020, Beijing intruded into Indian territory at some places across the long border, and Kathmandu claimed areas of Uttarakhand where India is building a road to Lipulekh Pass on the Tibetan border, to smoothen the journey for pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar. Amidst rising tensions, Nepalese police firing killed … Read More
The unbearable tragedy at Galwan Valley has little to do with territorial claims and is instead a distraction “with Chinese characteristics”, to cover the fact that President Xi Jinping’s flagship project, Belt and Road Initiative, is floundering. At the National People’s Congress in May 2020, Beijing announced a military budget … Read More
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
