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).
EDITORIAL: PAKISTAN-INDIA RELATIONS AT 70: A DISPIRITING PICTURE
Vinod Mubayi and Raza Mir
Two inspiring speeches were made in mid-August 1947. On August 11, Jinnah outlined his hopes for a non-sectarian Pakistan when he said “You are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. Read more…
EDITORIAL: ANOTHER YEAR OF MODI AND BJP: HAVE THE “ACCHHE DIN” ARRIVED?
Vinod Mubayi and Raza Mir
Prime Minister Modi made many promises of “acchhe din” (good days) after gaining power but all he has shown so far is an acumen for keeping his political opposition divided and winning elections, gaining “acchhe din” no doubt for himself and his cohorts. Read more…
RANA AYYUB SPEAKS IN MONTREAL – THE DIASPORA HAS A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE FOR INDIA TODAY
Dolores Chew
As part of her Canadian tour the famed and very courageous award-winning journalist and author Rana Ayyub (Gujarat Files: anatomy of a cover up) came to Montreal. Read more…
RANA AYYUB IN VANCOUVER: SOLIDARITY WITH “NOT IN MY NAME”
Chin Banerjee
In an expression of solidarity with the movement of protest against mob lynchings in India organized under the banner of “NOT IN MY NAME,” the recently formed, “Indians Abroad for Plural India” organized a talk by visiting journalist, Rana Ayyub, in Vancouver on August 27. Read more…
INDIA: STATEMENT OF WOMEN’S GROUPS & CONCERNED INDIVIDUALS ON THE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT ON TRIPLE TALAQ
22 AUGUST 2017
We wholeheartedly welcome the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Triple Talaq brought before it by a number of Muslim women and Muslim women’s rights groups. In arguing that the practice of Triple Talaq is both un-Quranic and Un-Constitutional, it is an important departure from earlier judgments on all women’s rights, because it is based on the tenets of equality, dignity and secularism as enshrined in the Constitution. Read more…
INDIA: SECULAR CIVIL CODE – WITH TRIPLE TALAQ STRUCK DOWN, IT’S TIME TO REFORM OTHER UNJUST FAITH-BASED LAWS
Girish Shahane
The Supreme Court’s divided judgement on instant divorce is a tiny step in the right direction. Read more…
TRIPLE TALAQ VERDICT, GENDER JUSTICE AND RSS COMBINE
L.S. Herdenia
The BJP and Sangh Parivar are celebrating Talaq judgment of Supreme Court and claiming credit for liberating Muslim women from the male dominated Muslim society. But there is no evidence that they took any initiative for empowering Hindu women. On the contrary they took every possible step to stall a major initiative taken by our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and our first law minister Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Read more…
RIGHT TO PRIVACY: A BRAKE ON GOVERNMENT
Indira Jaising
Supreme Court has ruled that the right to privacy is a fundamental right of every citizen of the country. The landmark verdict was in response to many petitions filed in courts questioning the validity of a government scheme to assign a unique biometric identity card to every individual. Read more…
AN EPIC BATTLE HAS BEEN WON IN THE FIGHT FOR PRIVACY IN INDIA, BUT THE WAR ISN’T OVER
Devjyot Ghoshal
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is an agency of the Government of India responsible for implementing the envisioned AADHAR a unique identification project in India. Read more…
DERA VIOLENCE: HOW BJP FUNDED & PROMOTED THE MONSTER CALLED RAM RAHIM SINGH
Aditya Menon, Anurag Dey
BJP is to blame for Dera violence. Haryana leaders gave Rs 1 cr (10 million) to #RamRahimSingh. Modi & Shah wooed him At the root of Dera violence in Punjab & Haryana lies BJP-RSS nexus with #RamRahimSingh. Read more…
HINDUTVA RULE & ANARCHY ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
Shamsul Islam
Is it a coincidence that wherever we have BJP governments mobs rule/destroy unhindered? Go on the rampage? Read more…
GORAKHPUR TRAGEDY: ALLEGATIONS AGAINST KAFEEL AHMED FALSE, REVEAL HINDUTVA BRIGADE’S BIGOTRY
Sandipan Sharma
His name is Kafeel Ahmed Khan. So, how could he have been a hero? Read more…
INDIA: COL. PUROHIT – ARYAVARTA’S SOLDIER, NOT A MERE MOLE
Press release by JTSA (Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association)
The Malegaon accused Col. Purohit has been granted bail by the Supreme Court. We know that bail in terror cases, especially those involving bomb blasts, is rare, if not altogether impossible to secure. Read more…
INTERVIEW WITH THE DALIT LEADER JIGNESH MEVANI
Ilangovan Rajasekaran
In mid July 2016, a video of a few Dalit youths being beaten and paraded by a mob for skinning a dead cow in Una in Gujarat went viral and triggered a mass movement for Dalit assertion that probably had few parallels in the history of modern India. Read more…
INDIA: DISTORTION OF TRUTH AND THE UNDERMINING OF DEMOCRACY UNDER REIGN OF HINDUTVA
Ananya Vajpeyi
Between sophistry and silence
Can the ongoing devaluation of language and undermining of democracy be reversed?
The outgoing Vice President, M. Hamid Ansari, was subjected to one of the strangest send-offs in Parliament in the history of independent India. Read more…
HARASSMENT OF PROF. NIVEDITA MENON BY JNU ADMINISTRATION
(Posted by Ayesha Kidwai . president, JNUTA in Facebook)
We, the undersigned women’s rights groups, activists and academics, are shocked to learn that the JNU administration has adopted a biased and mala fide procedure to institute an enquiry against Professor Nivedita Menon, eminent academic and well-known feminist who is Chairperson of the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Thought at the School of International Studies, JNU. Read more…
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