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

Ramachandra Guha: Why Modi And Shah Fear Young Activists // "Attempt To Browbeat Disha Ravi Into Submission": Mount Carmel Alumni

Why would the Indian state arrest a 21-year-old woman activist who seeks a cleaner and safer planet? Should not the country want young people to look beyond their narrow personal interests to the interests of society at large? Why did our government lock up a young citizen seeking to build a better future for herself… Read More Ramachandra Guha: Why Modi And Shah Fear Young Activists // "Attempt To Browbeat Disha Ravi Into Submission": Mount Carmel Alumni

Dilip

Nivedita Menon: Toolkits of democracy and a paranoid Hindu Rashtra

Let me tell you what the Delhi Police knows. And I do not mean the abstract entity called Delhi Police. I mean every single IPS officer and every constable involved in carrying out the “toolkit investigation.” They know that 22 year old Disha Ravi is not the Prime Mover along with the relatively recently formed… Read More Nivedita Menon: Toolkits of democracy and a paranoid Hindu Rashtra

Dilip

Helen Davidson: High profile pro-democracy figures go on trial over Hong Kong protests

Nine high-profile activists and pro-democracy figures have gone on trial in Hong Kong in one of the biggest court cases linked to the protest movement that paralysed the city for more than a year. Among the defendants are Martin Lee, considered the father of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan, and… Read More Helen Davidson: High profile pro-democracy figures go on trial over Hong Kong protests

Dilip

DAVID CORN: The greatest political crime in American history

While campaigning in Iowa in early 2016, Donald Trump proclaimed, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay. It’s, like, incredible.” Trump essentially did that in the last days of his presidency. He promoted a January 6 rally for what he called a “wild” day… Read More DAVID CORN: The greatest political crime in American history

Dilip

BJP planning to form governments in Nepal, Sri Lanka? Tripura Chief Minister discloses global expansion plan

Sparking a fresh controversy, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb on Sunday said that the BJP is planning to expand its footprint not only across the country but also in neighbouring nations. Speaking at an event in state capital Agartala, Deb raised eyebrows when he disclosed Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah’s alleged plan to… Read More BJP planning to form governments in Nepal, Sri Lanka? Tripura Chief Minister discloses global expansion plan

Dilip

Express Editorial: Weaponising an advocacy document to arrest an activist signals paranoia, not democratic power.

Evidence in the in the public domain points to Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old environmental activist, being just that – young and an activist. In an online interview, eight months ago, she talks, in sentences that end with a rising intonation, as if her sentences are questions, about causes ranging from climate change to feminism. Evidence… Read More Express Editorial: Weaponising an advocacy document to arrest an activist signals paranoia, not democratic power.

Dilip

Bharat Bhushan: No one critical of the government seems to be innocent any longer / Delhi Police arrests 22-year-old environmental activist, calls her key to foreign hand

‘Once crime was as solitary as a cry of protest; now it is as universal as science. Yesterday it was put on trial; today it determines the law’: Albert Camus, The Rebel        The Maharashtra government needs to order an inquiry into the planting of false evidence on Bhima-Koregaon accused Rona Jacob Wilson. It owes this to… Read More Bharat Bhushan: No one critical of the government seems to be innocent any longer / Delhi Police arrests 22-year-old environmental activist, calls her key to foreign hand

Dilip

Chakshu Roy: Over the years, poets, students, and even a village have been booked under the sedition law

‘And then again there are such as consider it virtuous to say, “Virtue is necessary”; but at bottom they believe only that the police is necessary’: Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra.    Indian Governments past and present have used a colonial-era law to charge many more ‘seditious’ men and women, most recently during the farmer… Read More Chakshu Roy: Over the years, poets, students, and even a village have been booked under the sedition law

Dilip

SIMRAN JEET SINGH: The Farmers' Protests Are a Turning Point for India's Democracy

NB: This article is presumably meant to explain the ongoing Indian farmers’ movement to Western audiences. If it was intended to help the farmers’ struggle, it will do just the opposite. The author highlights the Sikh and Punjabi element in the protests, when in fact it has been a non-denominational movement from the start. He… Read More SIMRAN JEET SINGH: The Farmers' Protests Are a Turning Point for India's Democracy

Dilip

Aseem Shrivastava: An Age gone blind // Mallika Bhanot – Char Dham Pariyojana: A High Risk Engineering Exercise

A strange fact has baffled naturalists recently. Rhododendrons and Himalayan daisies have been flowering in Ramgarh in the freezing winter of January, normally a snow-bound month of the Himalayan calendar. It has been one of the warmest winters in Uttarakhand. Ramgarh (at 2,100 metres) received half-a-dozen snowfalls during the winter of 2019-20. This season (and… Read More Aseem Shrivastava: An Age gone blind // Mallika Bhanot – Char Dham Pariyojana: A High Risk Engineering Exercise

Dilip