January 26, 2008

Fiftyeight years have passed since our first Republic Day when we gave ourselves a Constitution and turned the country into a Republic that ensured the consolidation of the independence we had won two-and-a-half years prior to January 26, 1950 as a consequence of the manifold strenuous struggles undertaken and extraordinary hardships endured by our freedom fighters led by that exceptional personality, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, in their bid to shake off the foreign yoke. It is thus time for (…)

Before leaving for China on January 13th this year, 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: “Our bilateral relations are now poised to enter a vibrant and dynamic phase, based on a common recognition that the growth and development of both India and China will make positive and long-term contributions to regional and global peace, security and stability.” Later the Joint statement issued by the two leaders, eloquently titled “A Shared Vision for the 21st Century”, states that “the two (…)

Venerable Prime Minister,
I have never regarded you as a mere politician, but ever considered you as a sheer statesman, but with basic differences. Your recent visit to China, if the media reports are correct, demonstrates your national vision which is liberal enough to treat close friendship with our great neighbour, China, an integral part of foreign policy and international alliance. India, China and Russia, if they stand together as a fraternal trinity, will be a force for global (…)

The Republic of India is now thirtyeight years old. It has weathered many a storm and has come to be recognised as a functioning democracy. The tremendous interest of the voter to exercise his right to vote is taken as proof of the enduring quality of our democracy. From this phenomenon, our Prime Minister seems to have drawn the conclusion that an unlettered electorate has a wider vision, a broader outlook. According to him, literacy “does more to narrow the vision than it does to widen (…)

On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom (January 30, 1948) we reproduce the following pieces that appeared in Mainstream exactly 20 years ago on January 26, 1988 when both Abu and N.C. were in our midst.
I have just noticed something about the way we Indians have reacted to Gandhiji in the last forty years since his death. I think it’s just like the way we have taken the Fairfax Commission report, or may be like the judgement of the five-member Bench of the (…)

“Scarcely will future generations believe that such a man in flesh and blood walked upon the Earth.” Thus spoke Albert Einstein, whose name will always be remembered as one of the greatest scientists in human history, about Mahatma Gandhi. Ironically, and most unfortunately, Einstein’s path-breaking discovery of the theory of Relativity (Energy=Speed of Light x time) also led to the greatest crime in human history—the manufacture of the Atom Bomb.
Mahatmaji—he was born in Gujarat and his (…)

Bihar has been through too much glory and too much ignominy not to be a sociologist’s or a political thinker’s puzzle. It proves a simple point that glory or prosperity is never permanent and can be lost by negligence or complacency. Does it also prove the opposite that a glory lost can be regained? It is difficult but not unachieveable.
History does not offer too much hope. If we look at Greece and Rome, both at the pinnacle of the European civilisation (best described as Greco Roman) (…)

Dr Manmohan Singh, our Prime Minister, was at his compromising worst when he clubbed nuclear energy with the solar as the necessary energy path. At the Indian Science Congress’ inaugural session on January 3 this year, he declared that the nuclear, the solar and clean coal technologies, would have important contributions to make to the country’s energy security. This is a stock phrase, riven by inner contradictions, taught by the US power elite. It is fraught with confusion and a potential (…)

A Constitution for India framed by the Indians was arguably the best gift to Indians on the eve of independence. The transcendent goal of racial revolution was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru to the members of the Constituent Assembly in the following words:
The first task of this assembly is to free India through a new Constitution, to feed the starving people and to clothe the naked masses and to give every Indian the fullest opportunity to develop himself according to his capacity. (…)

Recent advances in genetic engineering have emerged as one of the most important influences on the future of agricultural and food systems. With genetically engineered crops spreading rapidly to millions of hectares in countries like the USA (which export food to many countries) this is a crucial time to carefully examine the many sided impacts of genetic engineering on agriculture.
The science of genetics was transformed by the discovery of DNA and the steady increase in knowledge about (…)