July 5, 2008

In the December 1, 2007 issue of this journal there was a specific reference in these columns to the ‘deal’ over the Indo-US nuclear deal struck by the Congress and CPM leaders essentially to ensure the survival of Manmohan Singh as the PM (for he had threatened to resign if the Left did not allow the UPA Government to go to Vienna for talks on the safeguards agreement with the IAEA). Pointing to the Left leaders’ assertion that the final safeguards agreement with the IAEA “will have to come (…)

We were part of a group of senior nuclear scientists who had in the past expressed our grave concerns and objections to India entering into a nuclear cooperation agreement with the US under the aegis of the Hyde Act 2006. We had written to the parliamentarians on this matter, and the Prime Minister had given us an opportunity to meet with him and discuss our views.
At this critical juncture, when the Government is about to rush the safeguards agreements to the IAEA without giving its (…)

Indian humanity, divided communally, trivalised ideologically, dollar-dominated economically, politicised pathologically priced out from judicial justice mega-litigatively, has devalued Swaraj, tended to oblige lame-duck President Bush and served the interests of America Incorporated, losing, in the process, our self-respect and self-reliance so far as to sign an obviable and obnoxi-ous nuclear treaty. Prayerfully, the vast masses plead with the pro tem inflexibly firm Prime Minister, do (…)

India is a federal parliamentary democracy, with a bicameral Parliament, which bears striking resemblance to the Canadian Constitution. This can be attributed to the presence of British rule in both countries. Article 53 of the Constitution of India vests executive power in the President; however, Article 74(1) requires the President to act in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers consists of the Prime Minister and his or her Ministers. Schedule (…)

In the middle of all the heated debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal a very simple question needs to be asked—did the Congress party get the votes of the people on the basis of such a nuclear deal, or on the basis of promises of social and economic justice included in the Common Minimum Programme?
The answer clearly is that it is on the basis of a programme of social and economic justice that the Congress got the mandate of the people. The nuclear deal did not even exist as an issue at the (…)

The Statesman (June 10) carried a report entitled, “Cops can come to search without papers: Home Secretary”. Responding to queries the Home Secretary of West Bengal, Ashok Mohan Chakraborty, “insisted that he was not yet posted with facts involving Jadavpur University students”. Nevertheless, he defended the police action of trying to search flat without a warrant.
I waited for a day to see whether Mr Chakraborty would issue a contradiction. There was no contradiction. Hence it may be (…)

Sipra Sarkar passed away on the night of June 24, 2008. Born on May 30, 1931, the daughter of Susobhan Chandra Sarkar, the eminent historian and teacher, Sipradi was educated at St John’s Diocesan School, and subsequently at Presidency College and Calcutta University, standing First in the First Class in her BA History (Hons) (1950) and MA History (1952) examinations. She joined work in Surendranath College for Women and worked there till 1957, when she joined the newly founded Department of (…)

The outlook for Indian democracy is even bleaker than most Leftist critics would admit. When the Rightward drift in official policies is matched by the growing political indifferentism of large sections of the people, it is something to worry about. Not all the glowing platitudes about “the masses” and their militancy can cover up the facts of political life. Any serious thinking by Leftists today is bound to pose certain questions about the whole basis and accepted conventions of their (…)

The four furies that have beset the Prime Minister—Food, Fertiliser, Foreign Aid and Foundation—have brought into the open an unexpected alignment of forces that perhaps nobody in New Delhi could have predicted on the morrow of Smt Indira Gandhi’s election as the head of the Government.
The general impression in the Capital at that time was that Smt Gandhi would draw upon her good relations with the Left-wing elements in her party and outside, even if she hesitated to lean on them for (…)

Kerala is deservedly famous for its educational advancement, social progress and cultural regeneration among the States of India. Long before Independence an impressive line of social reformers like Sree Narayana Guru revolutionised the traditional regressive beliefs of the people and made them progressive in their outlook in all social, political and cultural matters. It was in this upturned social soil the seed of socialism was sown which soon sprouted and changed the political landscape (…)