Mainstream, March 30, 2024

* (Coverpage Artwork Credits: Yuri Annenkov – Portrait of Boris Pasternak (1921)) Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, March 30, 2024 Nehru’s contribution to India’s Economic Development | Arun Kumar History Repeats Itself With A Difference J P Gadkari Farmers’ Protests and the MSP Dilemma | S N Tripathy Debating Modernity, Colonialism, & Categorisation of ‘Tribes’ in India | Chhotelal Kumar… Read More Mainstream, March 30, 2024

Where Are the ‘Don Quixotes’ of Indian Academia?

NB: Anyone concerned about the intellectual health of their country should recall what Mao’s regime did to China’s academic life under the so-called Cultural Revolution in the late 1960’s. This was Mao Zedong’s motivated assault on academics, intellectuals and on his critics in the Communist Party leadership. Professor Frank Dikotter’s research study of this momentous… Read More Where Are the ‘Don Quixotes’ of Indian Academia?

Comrade Satyapal Dang: Lessons of Punjab have relevance for Kashmir

First posted June 02, 2017 NB: Comrade Satyapal Dang (1920-2013), a stalwart communist, was one of the tallest figures of modern India. At the height of the Khalistani movement he and his wife comrade Vimla stood fast in the CPI’s trade union office in Ekta Bhavan, Amritsar, despite the threats to their lives. They upheld secular values and… Read More Comrade Satyapal Dang: Lessons of Punjab have relevance for Kashmir

Day 18 of Climate fast / Sonam Wangchuk on YouTube / Assam in solidarity with Ladakh

End of Day 18 of #climatefast | Kya hum baimani se vishwaguru ban sakte hain END OF DAY 18 OF #CLIMATEFAST I’m feeling bit better today. But deeply disturbed at the breach of trust that Ladakh witnessed from the Home Ministry. This disrespect for written manifestos will set the worst precedence in the nation. Already… Read More Day 18 of Climate fast / Sonam Wangchuk on YouTube / Assam in solidarity with Ladakh

Art of extracting money from loss-making firms, and more electoral bond stories

http://www.reporters-collective.in Check out Electoral Bonds Tracker page On Thursday, as SBI reluctantly parted with unique codes that link electoral bond donors to its recipients, it laid bare the secret give-and-take relationship between the corporate world and the political parties. The Reporters’ Collective bushwhacked through hundreds of corporate documents to make sense of the donations. Though officially… Read More Art of extracting money from loss-making firms, and more electoral bond stories

Facing history and ourselves

People’s Archive of Rural India Ulopi Biswas was declared a ‘foreigner’ despite the family’s Indian citizenship and her own papers that prove her nationality. She was declared a D-voter, and went through a trial at Bongaigaon Foreign Tribunal in 2017-2022 to prove her citizenship. Kulsum Nissa and Sufia Khatun, who are out on bail from… Read More Facing history and ourselves

India’s richest 1% has highest concentration of wealth in decades, study shows

The wealth concentrated in the richest 1% of India’s population is at its highest in six decades and the percentage share of income exceeds that of countries including Brazil and the United States, research group the World Inequality Lab found. Since India, which won its independence in 1947 from Britain, opened its markets to foreign investment in 1992, its… Read More India’s richest 1% has highest concentration of wealth in decades, study shows

Arun Kumar: Articles and talks on poverty, farmers, the budget and electoral bonds

Dear Friends, I am posting links to select recent articles, discussions and interviews. Discussion in Hindi on the Electoral Bonds Issue. HindiSatya.com on March 16. https://www.youtube.com/live/aXZXvim0OpM?si=RF4rNTKXPJfoAijt Discussion on Electoral Bonds and Why SBI wanted to delay giving the data. TV6 https://www.youtube.com/live/of4mjNS58DE?si=xsmc9On0RBGJqQ6G How Robust is India’s Growth. The Leaflet. March 5 https://theleaflet.in/gdp-data-for-q3-2023-24-the-mystery-of-a-robust-growth/ Nehru’s Contribution to Indian Economic Development. Outlook March 4 https://www.outlookindia.com/national/economic-modernist-to-populist-personalism-how-india-developed-post-independence… Read More Arun Kumar: Articles and talks on poverty, farmers, the budget and electoral bonds

War hero Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas given funeral with Naval honours

God is too big for just one religion: Laxminarayan Ramdas The funeral and final rites of Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM (Retd.), were performed with full Navy honours at the Swarg Vatika in Trimulgherry, here on Saturday. He is survived by his wife, Lalita Ramdas, his three daughters and their spouses, and three… Read More War hero Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas given funeral with Naval honours

Electoral Bonds: Is India’s Democracy on Sale? / Ravish Kumar: चुनावी चंदे का भांडा फोड़ 

Electoral Bonds Tracker चुनावी चंदे का भांडा फोड़ A cursory glance at the data reflects a pervasive decay of democratic ethics of the political party in power… The quid pro quo trends appear to be coming out now despite the limited information shared in the data. Remember, the BJP is the largest beneficiary of the… Read More Electoral Bonds: Is India’s Democracy on Sale? / Ravish Kumar: चुनावी चंदे का भांडा फोड़