March 22, 2008

Writing in the International Herald Tribune on the recent uprising in Tibet H.D.S. Greenway makes certain profound observations that offer considerable food for thought.
Recently I visited the Jokhang (Tibet’s most sacred shrine)... As folk from the countryside poured into Lhasa, and to other shrines in the post-harvest pilgrimage season, one sensed that all China’s attempts to crush Tibet’s Tantric Buddhist traditions, the destruction of its monasteries, the dispersal and imprisonment of (…)

The following is a detailed explanation as to why the Bangladeshi author-in-exile, Taslima Nasreen, was finally forced to leave her adopted homeland, Bharatvarsha. This is an open indictment of the Central authorities in New Delhi and the West Bengal Government in Kolkata directly responsible for driving her out of the country in order to appease the Muslim fundamentalists. —Editor
I used to call this the torture chamber. I gradually came to realise that it was the chamber of (…)

The Dalai Lama’s recent visit to the USA has, as expected, touched off angry reaction in Beijing, supplementing the discomforting uneasiness the Chinese officialdom had had to face with the demonstration of Tibetan women raising the question of human rights at the NGO Forum held side by side with the UN Conference on Women.
The usual Chinese charge has been that the Dalai Lama was indulging in political activity, since he had approached President Clinton at a time when China is not in the (…)

Till last count the world had nearly 473,000 victims of landmine explosions—wounded in very painful ways and frequently maimed and/or disabled, sometimes suffering from life-long disability. Thousands of people are being added to this number every year as more injuries and deaths from landmine explosions are reported from various parts of the world. For each such victim there are several family members, dependants, close friends and relatives who too share the sufferings of serious injury (…)

The Union Budget for the financial year
2008-09 saw impressive build-up by the media and the powerful lobbies. Some moderation in the growth rate was played up in a sustained manner not only to protect what various industry sectors have got but to corner additional sops in the Budget. The Budget was expected, therefore, to offer stimulus to revive the sagging sectors. This reality merely certified that the Budget has gainers and losers. Among them, there are social biases in gains and (…)

The Supreme Court of India in its celebrated judgement in “J.P.Unnikrishnan versus State of Andhra Pradesh” (AIR 1993 SC 2178), while expounding the inherent implication of Article 21 (Protection of Life and Personal Liberty), held that the State had the obligation and duty to provide free education up to 14 years of age. Following that judgement and other action by the civil society groups Article 21A—Right to Education—was inserted in the Constitution by the Eightysixth Constitution (…)

For the first time in the 60-year history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Russia will attend the alliance’s summit meeting on April 2-4 in Bucharest, Romania.
It is clear that NATO will defer to a future date any decision to put Ukraine and Georgia on its Membership Action Plan. This means effectively that the two former Soviet republics cannot draw closer to NATO for another year at the very least, which in turn implies that the earliest the two countries can realise (…)

The anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom falls on March 23—he was executed on that day in 1931, 77 years ago. Last year Bhagat Singh’s birth centenary was befittingly observed on September 28. To mark his death anniversary we are carrying the following articles.
—Editor
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It is well known that from his young age Bhagat Singh was deeply impressed by the Ghadar Movement and that he regarded Kartar Singh Sarabha as his hero. Bandi Jeewan by Sachindranath Sanyal, which (…)

DISCUSSION
CPI leader and former Union Agriculture Minister Chaturanan Mishra, in his article “Need to Redefine Socialism after the Collapse of the Soviet Union” (Mainstream, Annual 2007), called for a discussion on the subject. The following is one contribution. —Editor
Mainstream has always taken a lead to invite new ideas, suggestions and debate on some vital social and economic issues to guide the future generations. Chaturanan Mishra has done this in the past too. I appreciate him (…)

As we know by now, 107 documents of Bhagat Singh, apart from his Jail Notebook and the Hindi translation of Dan Breen’s My Fight for Irish Freedom have come to light. These include five letters published for first time in March 2007 by this author. Out of these 107 documents, fortyfive fall in the category of correspondence—letters, telegrams and notices/leaflets.1 The correspon-dence of Bhagat Singh is available from 1918, when he had not completed even 11 years of age. There are three (…)