September 8, 2007

While the spectre of instability presently haunts the corridors of power in New Delhi, the two other major countries of South Asia—Pakistan and Bangladesh—are also in the grip of uncertainty-cum-instability.
In Pakistan the Musharraf-Benazir power-sharing deal has not yet fructified; at the other end the supporters of Nawaz Sharif are elated by reports that the former PM is due to reach Islamabad on September 10. But Musharraf has firmly declared that notwithstanding the Supreme Court (…)

DON’T IGNORE SECOND LABOUR COMMISSION REPORT
Recently there was widespread opposition by trade unions and campaigns for workers’ rights when the government announced a highly inadequate and weak draft law for social security of unorganised sector workers. These workers had been waiting for a social security legislation for decades, but after a long wait what the government announced was merely an intention of preparing and implementing some schemes rather than a definite plan of action (…)

Experience in India has shown that political agreements for a handover of power have always favoured the first incumbent. Very rarely has the transition to the second holder been smooth. More often, the power transfer has never actually happened. In a little over two months, Karnataka would provide one more example. In the run-up to the transfer of power, all indications appear to suggest an excruciatingly tantalising wait for the party to be anointed (BJP) and an agonisingly transparent (…)

COMMUNICATION
The Left parties have earned the gratitude of the people of India, the entire non-aligned world and all anti-imperialist forces by their firm and principled opposition to the Indo-US
Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. From the perspective of protecting India’s independent and non-aligned foreign policy, as also from the perspective of the international movement for disarmament, peace and resisting imperialism, this agreement should be opposed firmly. The Left Parties (…)

The need for leadership is strong in a country which needs an icon to look up to because it has been used to it or has not been in the habit of solving its own problems because they are too many or too complex or opinions on them are diverse or deeply divided or the country has because of a long span of foreign rule or an exploitative socio economic system has lost its self-confidence. It could also result from having had outstanding leaders in the recent past who related directly to the (…)

The United Progressive Alliance Government is caught on the horns of dilemma on whether to ‘operationalise’ the 123 Agreement with the United States. The Left parties, which extend critical support to the UPA Government from outside, have strongly called on the Congress party leadership to refrain from holding any further discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
To find out what the reservations of the Left are and what the diplomatic (…)

DOCUMENT
[The following are relevant excerpts from “Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006” for the benefit of our readers. —Editor ]
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Title I—United States and India Nuclear Cooperation
Section 101. Short Title
This Act may be cited as the ‘Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006’.
Section 102. Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress (…)

I have been asked to write a brief foreword to this edition of Barrows Dunham’s Man Against Myth. Let me begin by stating that if there is one book which I have, over the years, wanted republished in the country, it is Man Against Myth. I was even willing to risk piracy for it. It is very gratifying to know that the book will now be available in a more than properly published Indian edition. National Book Trust and Professor Bipan Chandra are to be congratulated for their bold initiative in (…)

This story has been told before, but can never be told enough.
On the 6th of December, 1992, a majority Right-wing Hindutva putsch overcame the majesty of the Indian state.
With the full and open collaboration of the then BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh, and the measly connivance of the Congress Government at the Centre, the fascists succeeded in overwhelming and demolishing out of existence a five-hundred year old mosque in Ayodhya.
That putsch was effected despite written (…)

BOOK REVIEW
The Hindu-Muslim Divide : A Fresh Look by Amrik Singh; Vitasta Publishing Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi; 2007; pp. XIV+238; Rs 345.
It is ironic that around the time we are celebrating 60 years of India’s independence, the subject under discussion here is the Hindu-Muslim divide, instead of it being harmony between members of different communities in our free country. But one has to face the facts and hence this discourse.
The author of the book under review, Dr Amrik Singh, (…)