October 27, 2007

• Triumph and Tragedy in Karachi
  31 October 2007, by SC

  While developments within the country, including the curious fate of the Indo-US nuclear deal (which thankfully will be analysed in detail in Parliament’s winter session unlike what happened in the last session when such a debate was thwarted due to the thoughtless stonewalling by the principal Opposition party), continue to hog the headlines the Karachi attack on Benazir Bhutto’s motorcade on her triumphal return to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile remains at the centre of (...)

• Capital Punishment : A Penological Barbarity
  31 October 2007, by V R Krishna Iyer

  Compassion for all living creatures (Article 51A) and human rights in its spectral dimensions, including the right to reform oneself out of a diabolic past, if any (Article 21), are great constitutional values spelt out in Sunil Batra (AIR 1978 SC) and Maru Ram (1981 SCC) and a number of other refined rulings of the Supreme Court. We have accepted in our Buddha-Gandhi country the reformatory theory of criminal jurisprudence and impliedly departed from the retributive theory which once (...)

• No Illegality in Bandh
  31 October 2007, by Rajindar Sachar

  Ever since Kerala Kerala High Court Judgement (1997) forbidding the call to Bandh and upholding of it by a laconic Order by the Supreme Court (1998) (three judges) there has been amongst trade unionists and political activists a wave of disappointing indignation at such a view which forbids the fundamental right of citizens of speech and association.
  Frustration was added to it because the court held Bandh illegal even when it conceded that there was no material to suggest that the (...)

• Russia Bolsters its Ties with Iran
  31 October 2007, by M K Bhadrakumar

  Relations between Russia and the United States will be put to severe test in the coming weeks as there are growing signs that the US has decided, or has almost decided, to launch a military strike against Iran.
  Russian observers do not rule out that the Administration of US President George W Bush is yet to think through its policy on Iran, and the spate of media “leaks” keeps Tehran and the world community guessing. They analyse that a US military intervention would become inevitable (...)

• Warning Signals for the US
  31 October 2007, by Neha Kumar

  The relationship between Iran and Russia have been strengthened by the historic visit of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to Iran. Russian President Putin paid a visit to Iran on October 16, 2007 despite the threats of assassination. Putin made it clear that the aim of the visit was to clear up ambiguities regarding the nuclear programme of Iran and to play an influential role in the Iran nuclear programme. Russia also attended a multilevel meeting, that is, the Caspian Sea meeting. (...)

• World Development Report on Agriculture:
  31 October 2007, by Bharat Dogra

  It is in the midst of serious and growing concerns about farmers’ suicides and threats to food-security that an important document like the latest (2008) World Development Report (WDR) on Agriculture (prepared by the World Bank) needs to be examined carefully. The World Bank’s influence on policy-making is widely acknowledged and the WDR provides a strong indicator of the overall direction and thrust of these policy-influences.
  A claim that is repeatedly made in this report is that for (...)

• Indira Gandhi—An Outstanding International Leader
  31 October 2007, by M. Saleem Kidwai

  [(October 31 marks the twentythird anniversary of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. As a tribute to her abiding memory we are carrying the following piece. —Editor )]
  The charismatic and epoch-making personality of Indira Gandhi left her imprint not only in the affairs of her own country but also in international affairs. She belonged to that noble galaxy of great leaders who wielded extraordinary power. Indira Gandhi was an Indian to the core but at the same time her vision went (...)

• Strategic Alliance with the USA in a World of ’Civilisation’-based Alignment
  31 October 2007, by Kunal Ghosh

  The Government of India is in the process of reaching a comprehensive agreement with the USA on civil cooperation in nuclear power. The Left parties are opposed to it on the ground that it binds India to America as a global strategic partner and that has some long term ramifications. They say: “The nuclear cooperation deal is an integral part of the July 2005 Joint Statement, which has political, economic and strategic aspects. It is also closely linked to the June 2005 Military Framework (...)

• Being a Proud Indian
  31 October 2007, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  A midst the profusion of tributes paid to Indira Gandhi on the tenth anniversary of her martyrdom on October 31, perhaps the most eloquent but concise was by the eminent scientist-philosopher, Professor Yash Pal, who said she had made us feel proud of being an Indian.
  To be proud of belonging to our motherland was the constant injunction that my generation had to abide by when we were young students—that was before the country became independent. The galling yoke of foreign rule was not (...)

• M.N. Vijayan : The Scholar Who Knew Too Much
  31 October 2007, by K M Seethi

  Professor M.N. Vijayan—a Leftist scholar of great repute, an incisive writer and orator, a social critic and an unyielding political activist which Kerala has ever seen—is now history. Vijayan died at a crucial time when critiquing of the mainstream Left has been seen as ‘game-plans’ of the much-reviled ‘media syndicate’ in Kerala. But long before the CPI-M unleashed its orchestrated campaign against him, M.N. Vijayan had proved himself to be a ‘dissenter-extraordinary’ which not many people of (...)

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