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).
JAPAN UPDATE MARCH 30, 2011
Editors
As INSAF Bulletin goes to distribution, the nuclear plant crisis at Fukushima in Japan, precipitated by the massive earthquake followed by a huge tsunami, is still unfolding; reactor cores at two units in the six-unit facility and some of the pools in which the spent fuel rods are held, have not completely stabilized to a point where the emergency can be declared at an end.
WHAT CAN SOUTH ASIA LEARN FROM JAPAN’S BEST-CASE RESPONSE TO A WORST-CASE DISASTER?
Sekhar Ramakrishnan
The uncertain situation with Fukushima nuclear plant precipitated by a big earthquake and Tsunami is of concern to humanity. What happened, what has been done and what are the lessons of this disaster? Here is one view on the subject.
INDIAN UNION BUDGET 2011-12: MISSING BIG OPPORTUNITIES WHILE FAVOURING BUSINESS
Arun Kumar
The Indian Union budget presented by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on February 27, 2011 has not received as much attention as it deserves. Does the budget address the question of poverty? Economist Arun Kumar provides a detailed analysis.
ADVANI AND MODI – THE REAL CULPRITS ESCAPING THE LAW
Asghar Ali Engineer
More than 100 innocent persons were arrested after burning of S-6 in Godhra on 27th February 2002 which in turn followed demolition of Babri Masjid on 6th December 1992. The man mainly responsible for the former was Mr. L.K.Advani who, to fulfill his ambition for power raised the slogan ‘mandir wahin banayenge’ and played with the religious sentiments of common Hindus and our secular state looked the other way. The man responsible for the later was Narendra Modi, who exploited burning of S-6 in Godhra to retain his power which otherwise he was sure to loose. And both these worthies of BJP brought utter shame to our secular tradition and secular philosophy.
GODHRA VERDICT: WHITHER JUSTICE? Need for a CBI Investigation
Ram Puniyani
Contrary to the overwhelming evidence against a Muslim conspiracy to set afire the S-6 railway Coach at Godra, the Session’s court accepts the theory advocated by the Gujarat government. Naturally there is a demand for enquiry into the episode. On the other hand, regardless of who set the coach afire, the government of Narendra Modi must be treated as guilty in the indiscriminate massacre of innocent Muslims.
MYTH OF VIBRANT GUJARAT
Ram Puniyani
Nearly nine years after the carnage of Gujarat (Feb 2011), a perception has been created that Gujarat is developing with rapid strides, there is all peace and harmony and minorities are happy. Like ‘Shining India’ a word has been coined, ‘Vibrant Gujarat’.
SANGH PARIVAR AND NEW CONTRADICTIONS
Vikhar Ahmed Syeed
Interview with French social scientist Christophe Jafferlot (Frontline March 12-25, 2011)
BABA RAMDEV: YOGI OR COMMISSAR?
Ram Puniyani
God men like Baba Ramdev reflect the degeneration of Indian society and perhaps other societies. In his book “The Art and Science of Healing Since Antiquity (Xilbris: Bloomington, IN, USA), the author Daya Varma deals with the booming industry of providing health and wealth by men like Baba Ramdev and others. Here Ram Puniyani presents a timely exposure of nefarious and yet popular characters like Baba Ram Dev.
MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN DALITS: Victims of Religious Apartheid Sanctioned by the State
Yoginder Sikand
While many traditionally deprived sections of Indian people have been given certain privileges in independent India, Christian and Muslim Dalits have been denied the provision of reservations. Who is behind this injustice to a select section of the population? Yoginder Sikand, an authority on the problems faced by Muslims in India and elsewhere analyzes the background to discrimination against this section.
SUCCESSFUL VISIT OF INDIAN PEACE DELEGATION TO PAKISTAN
A report on the visit of an Indian peace delegation to Pakistan and the warm welcome it received.
CONSENSUS AMONG THE THREE MAIN PARTIES IN NEPAL
Nepal news: March 10, 2011
The three major parties – UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) – have agreed to prepare the modality of the integration of Maoist combatants within five days and complete the integration process before the promulgation of the new constitution.
VIEW FROM THE UK (GOING CRITICAL): how the Fukushima disaster taught me to stop worrying and embrace nuclear power
George Monbiot
You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology.
FROM THE ARAB WORLD TO LATIN AMERICA
Santiago Alba Rico Alma Allende
We have the impression that a great worldwide liberation process may be aborted by the unappeasable ferocity of Gaddafi, U.S. interventionism, and a lack of foresight in Latin America.
WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP: The plan to steal everything and sell the people into slavery
Michael Hudson and Jeffrey Sommers
The Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker is at war against the workers and ordinary citizens aside being outrageously anti-democratic. Here two eminent political economists analyze the latest development.
TRIBUTE TO KARL MARX
Daya Varma
Faced with recurrent economic crises, characteristic of capitalist economy but certainly not the crisis of capitalism as Sami Amin puts it, eminent economists and the so-called bourgeois press has discovered the relevance of Marxism in understanding why things are as they are. Paradoxically they are more truthful in their analysis of Marx than many Marxist political parties.
Obituary:Alberto Granado Jiménez (1923-2011)
Javier Galeano (Associated Press)
HAVANA — Alberto Granado Jiménez, the Argentine biochemist who accompanied the young Che Guevara on his formative odyssey across South America, died here on Saturday. He was 88. This journey is portrayed in the beautiful movie “Motorcycle Diary”.