Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
ARUNDHATI ROY ON KASHMIR
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
Arundhati Roy’s pronouncement “Kashmir has never been an integral part of India” is a non-sequitur. Historically, India was understood as a geographic construct. It emerged as a unitary nation-state under British rule. Kashmir was then as much a part of India as any of the other 500-odd princely states. Even under various past empires, ranging from Ashoka to Akbar to Bahadur Shah Zafar, there was never any doubt that Kashmir belonged to what was considered India.
BIHAR ELECTIONS SET A NEW PARADIGM IN INDIA’S PARLIAMENTARY POLITICS
Daya Varma
In the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) [JDU] bagged 115 of the 243 seats and its partner Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) won 91 seats. Thus JDU-BJP alliance won 206 incomparably ahead of Lalu Yadav’s. 22 and Congress’s four seats. JDU-BJP are part of the National Democratic Alliance, which ruled India for five years with Vajpayee is the Prime Minister.
DRONES: THEIRS AND OURS
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Vocal as they are about being bombed from the sky, most Pakistanis – including many on the Left – suddenly lose their voice when it comes to the human (Muslim) drone.
A SUMMER OF CRUEL MONSOONS, INTOLERANCE AND SMALL TRIUMPHS
Kiran Omar
Monsoons, normally a relief in South Asia, brought unprecedented devastation in Pakistan this year. The response of the Pakistan government was slow and sporadic.
INDIA NOT SHINING FOR WOMEN; RANKED 112/134 IN GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT
Here comes another report that shames India. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2010 says India’s position is abysmal. Out of 134 countries surveyed, India is among the lowest ranked countries at the 112th position, with a score of 0.6155. The index ranks 134 economies according to the size of the gaps between men and women.
AYODHYA VERDICT 2010: WHITHER INDIAN CONSTITUTION!
Ram Puniyani
The verdict given by Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court (Sept 2010) has been a landmark of sorts. On one hand it is culmination of the process of demolition of Babri Masjid, now that illegal act of demolition has got a legal sanction. On the other this judgment is the one based on every other consideration than the legal one. It has no rooting in the values of Indian Constitution, no guidance from the directive principles of the Constitution and no grounding in the law of the land.
THE DEITIES WE CREATE
Badri Raina
India is a land of deities and new ones created as needed.
CHRISTIANS VILLAGERS FORCED TO LIVE AS HINDUS
John Dayal
Persecution of Christians by Hindutva zealots continues. This saga of Christians in Orissa is based on the Report of a Fact Finding group of Activists on the Social and Economical Boycott of Christians in the Kandhamal district.
MARXISTS NOT AGAINST MARKET, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI): KARAT
CPM leader attributes the dichotomy between the policies in states where it is power such as West Bengal and Kerala and for the rest of the country to lack of autonomy for provincial governments.
DISASTROUS POLICY OF INJECTABLE CONTRACEPTIVES FOR RURAL INDIA
Shree Mulay
The decision of the Health Ministry of India to support injectable contraceptives in rural India is fraught with serious health risks.
RAJAPAKSA’S SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT
Daya Varma
Having militarily annihilated LTTE and won presidential and parliamentary election, the Sri Lankan President is promising to embark on a comprehensive policy to deal with all problems facing his country including the Tamil question.
INDIRA GANDHI PEACE PRIZE FOR OUTGOING BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT
An international jury presided by Dr. Manmohan Singh has decided to award Indira Gandhi Peace Prize to former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva. INSAF Bulletin welcomes this decision. Brazil has made great strides both in economic development and governance under the leadership of Lula.
LETTER: Random thoughts
Have just been through the new INSAF Bulletin (No 103, November, 2010).. Liked your (Vinod Mubayi’s) article on Shiv Sena. The present generation needs to be reminded of the original motivations and the types of groups that formed the Sena- especially the fact that political patronage was given to them to counter the trade unions. Reminds one of Sanjay Gandhi’s buildup of Bhindranwale, to counter the Akalis.
REVIEW: DELHI-6 AND THE BATTLE FOR INDIA
Chinmoy Banerjee
Delhi-6 by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra (2009) is an example of the new globalized Indian cinema, otherwise known as “Bollywood,” at its best. It is popular and puzzling, conventional and sophisticated, providing all the satisfactions of contemporary Bombay cinema, including technical slickness and the integration of the diaspora within it as subject and audience and yet remaining multilayered and critical. It carries different messages at the same time so that it might be received differently by different reception communities: it uses the conventions of popular cinema in a self-conscious way and places a layer of signification for those who wish to see it through the gap created by the self-consciousness. As such it runs the risk of puzzling and disappointing a section of the audience it addresses that fail to respond to the challenge of seeing it through the breaks in the conventional surface it artfully constructs. Addressing a heterogeneous audience within India and the diaspora, such films take the risk of falling between two stools—and are often attacked from both sides– but their success exceeds their share of the market.
OBITUARY: RAM NARESH RAM (1923-2010)
Veteran leader of historic struggles in Bhojpur, Central Committee Member and leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) CPI(ML)’s legislative group in the Bihar Assembly from 1995-2010, Comrade Ram Naresh Ram passed away around 4 pm in Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), Patna, where had been in a coma and battling a cerebral stroke for the past several days. 87-year old Comrade Ram Naresh Ram, popularly known as ‘Parasji,’ is among the tallest leaders of the revolutionary struggle and is an icon for the downtrodden and oppressed people, not only of Bhojpur and Bihar but the whole country.
VICTOR KIERNAN (1913-2009)
Prakash Karat
Victor Kiernan lived in India from 1938 to 1946. It may be true as Eric Hobsbawm has said that “Unexpectedly India drew him away for several years from the major themes on which his reputation will probably rest”.