October 13, 2007

Even though the UPA-Left committee on the Indo-US nuclear deal continues to function and its next meeting is slated for October 22, the Left is under attack from influential segments of the media as well as prominent columnists for its incapacity to appreciate the 123 Agreement and all the subsequent exercises to translate that document into reality.
Congress President-cum-UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in her latest speech in Haryana, uncharac-teristically branded all those opposed to the (…)

Summing up the 10-year ties between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a Russian military analyst wrote:
Relations between the two are a marriage of convenience, where husband and wife live together, often socialise with others as a couple, and show every sign of respect for each other.
At the same time, they sleep in different rooms, and have separate households and personal expenses. Each side is primarily pursuing its interests, and although the couple is (…)

Despite the fact that more and more downtrodden people have begun to exercise their right of casting votes and there is a new consciousness among Dalits, tribals, women and Other Backward Castes which deepen the roots of our democracy, this in itself does not result in strengthening the rights of the people. More Dalits are killed in India than what happened to the Blacks in South Africa during the apartheid period. Even elected Dalit Presidents of village Panchayats in Tamil Nadu are not (…)

Never before in the history of free India have the Left parties had the influence they have now over the policies of the Central Government of India. How they are going to use this influence and enhance it in the days to come is likely to be a crucial factor in the destiny of India.
During the first general election in 1951, one candidate put up by the then united Communist Party of India, Ravi Narayan Reddy, got the highest number of votes, more than even the number of votes obtained by (…)

Land reforms should be put in the forefront of the efforts to reduce poverty, promote sustainable development of our rural areas and to bring enduring peace and justice to our people. For this we recommend the following four-point plan of action.
A. Additional Land For the poor
Prepare a comprehensive plan to distribute at least 50 million acres of land to about 25 million landless and near landless peasant households in the country (about 2.5 acres of land each to landless peasants and (…)

[(On the occasion of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan’s 105th birth anniversary on October 11, we are publishing the following articles. Besides the piece by senior journalist Arvind Bhandari, written specially for this occasion, the one by veteran journalist Ajit Bhattacharjea is reproduced from Mainstream Annual, 1998.)]
Invoking the memory of Jayaprakash Narayan on the occasion of his birth anniversary on October 11 acquires greater relevance today because the nation is passing through a (…)

Jayaprakash Narayan has carried with him fulsome tributes from all political circles-his adherents and admirers, his adversaries and detractors. A life of ups and downs of heroic times and despairing moments Living beyond the Psalmist’s assigned span, JP had not only witnessed mighty deeds but participated in them in the company of the great and was often acclaimed as one of them. Where History will place him in the pantheon of the architects of our freedom, it will be known only to (…)

Jayaprakash Narayan has left a heritage of unremitting intellectual and political pursuit of individual freedom and social justice. He campaigned for human rights everywhere, including Kashmir, Nagaland and Tibet. His transparent sincerity, simplicity, openness to new ideas and willingness to re-examine his own made it a privilege to know him.
Yet one cannot say that the social evils against which he struggled are nearer solution today, 19 years after he left us. In many ways the (…)

Very few, if at all, of the present generation Indians would have even heard of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, who was a pioneer among women participants in the Indian freedom movement. Braving a succession of domestic disasters—loss of parents, widowhood in her teens, disappoint-ment in remarriage-Kamaladevi was in the vanguard of the country’s freedom struggle as a socialist and thereafter as a key figure in the co-operative movement and in promoting the arts.
Fourth and youngest daughter of (…)

[(Last week the Chinese people observed the fiftyeighth anniversary of their Revolution that transformed the face of the country in a short span of time. But what is the present reality in China? A well-known social activist explores. )]
The only thing that is ‘communist’ in China today is the name. That is my overwhelming impression at the end of a ten-day visit to the People’s Republic of China as part of an official youth and panchayati raj delegation from India. Despite expecting to (…)