Mukul Kesavan: An Ashoka for our time / Navneet Sharma & Prakrati Bhargava: No space for liberal education

First posted March 29, 2021 NB: The authorities of a self-respecting university or college are expected to defend their staff and students. That was the case, anyway, when I was a student over 50 years ago. But Ashoka’s Founders were so infuriated by Professor Mehta’s criticisms of the Modi government that they not only pushed him… Read More Mukul Kesavan: An Ashoka for our time / Navneet Sharma & Prakrati Bhargava: No space for liberal education

Dilip

India’s News Upstarts Challenged Modi. New Rules Could Tame Them. By Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar

Online portals have practiced aggressive journalism in a mostly compliant media landscape. But trolls and the government could now be empowered to stop them. India’s prime minister has cultivated and cowed large parts of the country’s normally raucous news media in recent years as part of a broader campaign against dissent. One group remains untamed: A relatively new generation… Read More India’s News Upstarts Challenged Modi. New Rules Could Tame Them. By Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar

Dilip

America's gun madness: How guns went from tools to ideology to identity. By LUCIAN TRUSCOTT

Three letters: NRA. Beginning in the 1970s, the National Rifle Association transformed itself from a shooting sports organization into a political lobbying arm of the Republican Party.   How did we get from a little NRA indoor firing range with .22 target rifles to an entire convention hall filled with weapons of war and nostalgia for… Read More America's gun madness: How guns went from tools to ideology to identity. By LUCIAN TRUSCOTT

Dilip

Deb Mukharji: For Indian Diplomats in Pakistan, the Run up To the 1971 War Was a Very Tense Time / Bharat Bhushan – Dhaka disconnect: Excellent relations marred by violent protests

Deb Mukharji: For Indian Diplomats in Pakistan, the Run up To the 1971 War Was a Very Tense Time    1971. The most cataclysmic year in the history of the sub-continent since the Partition of India in 1947. Even as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Muktijuddho, the War of Liberation, India’s decisive military victory over Pakistan and the… Read More Deb Mukharji: For Indian Diplomats in Pakistan, the Run up To the 1971 War Was a Very Tense Time / Bharat Bhushan – Dhaka disconnect: Excellent relations marred by violent protests

Dilip

Myanmar military committing mass murder – UN official urges world to act after at least 114 killed in in one day

NB: The Indian government, along with Russia, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, sent representatives to a military parade to mark Myanmar Armed Forces Day on March 27. This is especially shameful in the midst of a massacre of civilians – including children by the Army. Bangladeshis may recall the massacre of 1971, and… Read More Myanmar military committing mass murder – UN official urges world to act after at least 114 killed in in one day

Dilip

Fedor Stepun, 1884-1965

NB: Fedor Stepun was a Russian writer, editor, professor, political commentator. In 1922, he. along with over 200 non-communist intellectuals perceived as hostile to the Bolshevik regime. was arrested and ordered to leave the USSR within a week. They included the philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev, and scores of other academicians, writers, artists, editors of journals etc. DS… Read More Fedor Stepun, 1884-1965

Dilip

SOPHIE KIDERLIN: The biggest banks have poured $3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since 2016. J P Morgan tops the list of contributors

NB: Anyone who still needs evidence that capitalism is the structural form of nihilism may reflect on these facts: DS    Banks funneled more money into fossil fuels in 2020 than in 2016, according to a report by the Rainforest Action Network. JPMorgan, Citi and Wells Fargo were the biggest financiers from 2016 to 2020. Funding of the companies… Read More SOPHIE KIDERLIN: The biggest banks have poured $3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since 2016. J P Morgan tops the list of contributors

Dilip

Amita Baviskar: Ashoka and After: The Universities We Believe In

After having worked most of my life in a public university and research institute, I started teaching at Ashoka last year. So my response to the many commentaries on the ongoing debacle at this private university comes from being an outsider as well as an insider. This ‘squint-eyed perspective,’ as fellow-sociologist Satish Deshpande has described… Read More Amita Baviskar: Ashoka and After: The Universities We Believe In

Dilip