Author: Dilip

I'm a scholar, writer and teacher; and my blog is designed for intellectual exploration. It carries no advertisements and requires no cash subscription

National Herald case: No crime, no FIR, says Randeep Surjewala

Questioning the basis of the entire process, Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram tweeted: “Will the learned spokespersons for the BJP please answer the following questions: 1. Which is the ‘scheduled offence’ under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that has triggered an investigation by ED? 2. Which police agency has registered an… Read More National Herald case: No crime, no FIR, says Randeep Surjewala

Dilip

Kumar Sanjay Singh: Naga National Assembly: Foreboding of a cold and ungenerous peace

Convening of the Emergency National Assembly on 31 May 2022 marks the apogee of the most torrid fortnight of the talks. Apparently, the fraught issue of Naga flag and constitution is at the root of the current instability. That trust has been a casualty is borne out in the statements of those involved in peace… Read More Kumar Sanjay Singh: Naga National Assembly: Foreboding of a cold and ungenerous peace

Dilip

Trump brought US ‘dangerously close to catastrophe’, January 6 panel says

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol presented evidence on Thursday that Donald Trump was told his last-gasp attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election was unlawful but forged ahead anyway. Trump then pressured his vice-president, Mike Pence, to reject a tally of state electors as part of a plot that… Read More Trump brought US ‘dangerously close to catastrophe’, January 6 panel says

Dilip

There is a war on nature. Dom Phillips was killed trying to warn you about it

Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira have been killed in an undeclared global war against nature and the people who defend it. Their work mattered because our planet, the threats to it and the activities of those who threaten it matter. That work must be continued. The frontlines of this war are the Earth’s remaining biodiverse regions –… Read More There is a war on nature. Dom Phillips was killed trying to warn you about it

Dilip

Bharat Bhushan: Political significance of Uttar Pradesh’s bulldozer demolitions

NB: The RSS/BJP government is destroying the rule of law in plain sight of the judiciary, bureaucrats and police, all of whom are sworn to uphold the Indian Constitution. It takes a minutes or hours to destroy a home and the hearts of its inhabitants; but it will take decades to restore the faith of… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Political significance of Uttar Pradesh’s bulldozer demolitions

Dilip

Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Agnipath is not the reform the armed forces need

The structure of the military has immense ramifications for security, and also for social organisation at large. The Agnipath scheme is a major structural reform with consequences both for the armed forces and society at large. Some reforms and restructuring of the armed forces was overdue. Sometimes, scepticism about reforms reflects an underlying status quo… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Agnipath is not the reform the armed forces need

Dilip

Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy support free speech; condemn hate speech, death threats / Media coverage of IMSD Statement

NB: To this timely statement I will add just one observation directed at all those groups and individuals who seem to derive their meaning of life via abuse, hatred, machismo and what in north India we call rangdaari. I have commented on this useless controversy here – read it if you can still engage in rational… Read More Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy support free speech; condemn hate speech, death threats / Media coverage of IMSD Statement

Dilip

Anjan Basu: The Crisis in Civilisation that Rabindranath Tagore red-flagged Is back upon us

NB: A very well written and timely reminder. My two caveats are 1) with the word back; and 2) with the positioning of the word crisis. It is not ‘back’, because after the Napoleonic wars it never went away; and a more appropriate title description  of our time (with due respect to Gurudev), would be… Read More Anjan Basu: The Crisis in Civilisation that Rabindranath Tagore red-flagged Is back upon us

Dilip

Book review: Kabir and the Question of Modernity

NB: An excellent review of an excellent book. Purushottam Agrawal has done us a public service. DS Kabir, the famous religious poet of Varanasi, lived from roughly 1440 CE to 1518 CE. He first became well-known outside of India in 1915 when Rabindranath Tagore published an English translation of 100 songs, or bhajans, att­ri­buted to Kabir. Tagore’s translation… Read More Book review: Kabir and the Question of Modernity

Dilip