June 21, 2008

The UPA Government is facing the most severe crisis since its formation four years ago. It is by now quite transparent that following the postponement of the UPA-Left coordination committee meeting, which was slated to be held on June 18, the two sides are preparing for a parting of ways on the issue of the government proceeding to seek approval of the text of the India-specific safeguards agreement from the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Prime Minister (…)

Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has said the proposed Indo-US civil civil nuclear cooperation deal seeks to “give a new dimension to India’s relationship with the United States” and that it would end “nuclear apartheid” the world imposed on India. American supporters of the Bush Administration are persistently conveying the idea that the deal was “very much in India’s interest” and that India will be the loser if it misses this great opportunity. The Indian lobbyists for the deal, too, are (…)

I am a woman of Nandigram My name is Radharani Ari Born in the twelfth year of the Republic That makes me forty-six.
Fourteen March 2007 I am part of the struggle to save our Bhoomi The peaceful blockade on Bhangaberia Bridge Turns into a bloodbath Police shoot fourteen dead I hide in a ditch Only to be pulled out by your masked harmad Beaten unconscious and raped with a tree branch Till the tearing pain chokes my shrieks And my ears can hear my voice no more
I limp back in naked terror (…)

Genetically modified (GM) foods are food products whose genetic content has been changed by use of recombinant DNA technology. This genetic change is made so as to give the food crop or food product certain defined, definite characteristics such as increased yield, pest resistance, attractive colour, enhanced taste, increased shelf life, increased nutritional content, etc., as claimed by the company that has obtained the patent for it. The company thus claims that either the farmer or the (…)

Much of Asia and Africa are today beset with hunger. This is often blamed upon increased consumption of meat by Chinese middle class and drought in Australia. None of these are convincing, however. The American magazine, Biofuels Digest, tells us that the use of grains for production of meat in China increased from 190 millions tons in 1995 to 390 million tonnes in 2007. The consumption of meat is likely to rise from 41 kg per person in 1997 to 85 kg per person in 2030. This seems to (…)

[(The following is one chapter of the Report of the Expert Group on “Development Issues to Deal with the Causes of Discontent, Unrest and Extremism”, set up by the Planning Commission, in May 2006. With D. Bandyopadhyay, the architect of ‘Operation Barga’ of West Bengal in the eighties and former Secretary, Rural Development, Government of India, as the Chairman, the Group consisted of sixteen members. Besides D. Bandyopadhyay, the other members were S.R. Sankaran, Dr B.D. Sharma, Kamala (…)

COMMUNICATION
Gurudas Dasgupta has really done a national service by raising this very important national issue in the Lok Sabha of IPL cricket matches. He has rightly described these matches as tabloid version of cricket and fertile ground for gambling and betting. He is fully justified in urging the government to trace the source of massive funds flown in the entire event.
He has fully exposed these highly disgusting and shameful facts that not only teams are franchised, players are (…)

I
Turn on any of India’s up-market corporate channels, and you will find therein but just one lead: the IPL, or the Indian Premier League of 20x20 cricket.
It is as though that magic potion has been found at last that snuffs out all our troubles. Yet my migraine gets only more acute.
Watching these gladiators do relentless violence to the round little ball (and, in a moment of defeated frustration, to one another), you are not to think that anyone in India is houseless, diseased, (…)

India’s most popular outdoor game of cricket is being subjected to a veritable upheaval since April 15 without adequate public awareness of it .On the other hand, the young and old are lapping up the tamasha as ‘cheap’ entertainment. The sparsely clad, cheerleaders imported from the US are a mere fig leaf for the Twenty/20 format of the halcyon days of the ‘gentleman’s game’. Recall the Jam Saheb of Navanagar whose felicity with the willow in the early 19th century was celebrated by A.G. (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Farmers’ Suicides—Facts and Possible Policy Interventions by Meeta and Rajivlochan; published by: Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration; first published 2006; first reprint 2007; pages 263; price: Rs 495.
One of the most disquieting development in the era of the neo-liberal policy in India has been widespread occurrence of farmers’ suicides in different parts of the country including not only the drought prone areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and (…)