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: LOCKDOWN DRAGS ON IN J&K
Vinod Mubayi
At the time of writing (September 25), Jammu & Kashmir remains in a locked down condition. There is no internet or mobile phone service over most of the state, there is an unending curfew for many inhabitants of major towns like Srinagar, the schools are largely closed, and thousands of political and business leaders in jail for no reason apart from the whims of the central government, i.e. the wishes of Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Shah, and National Security Adviser Doval, and the repressive security apparatus at their control. J&K, especially the Valley, is beginning to resemble a vast open-air jail on the lines of Gaza. Read more…
THOUSANDS PROTESTED OUTSIDE UNGA IN NEW YORK DURING NARENDRA MODI’S SPEECH
Though Modi has visited the United States six times since 2014, this is the first time his presence in the US has been met with such vociferous protests. Read more…
WHY WE, AS HINDU AMERICANS, ARE OPPOSED TO MODI’S UNDECLARED EMERGENCY
Raju Rajagopal and Sunita Viswanath
“Democracy, beloved husband of Truth, loving father of Liberty, brother of Faith, Hope and Justice, expired on June 26.” – Times of India classified advertisement, inserted surreptitiously just as the 1975 Emergency went into effect. Read more…
WOMEN’S VOICE: FACT FINDING REPORT ON KASHMIR
[Kindly note. To protect the identity of the people we met, all names in the Report have been changed. We have not named the villages we visited for the very same reason] Read more…
INDIA, PAKISTAN, KASHMIR: TAKING THE WAR OPTION OFF THE TABLE
Zia Mian, Abdul H. Nayyar, Sandeep Pandey, M. V. Ramana
On September 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan will address the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This appearance will come at a time of great concern about the increasingly hostile relationship between their two countries. Read more…
JNUTA STRONGLY CONDEMNS HARASSMENT OF DR HANY BABU
JNUTA strongly condemns the illegal raid conducted by Pune Police at the Noida residence of Dr Hany Babu of the English Department, University of Delhi on September 10, 2019, allegedly in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. Read more…
THE SCRAPPING OF ARTICLES 370 AND 35A – THE STAND OF THE RADICAL SOCIALISTS GROUP
We, the Radical Socialists Group, resolutely and unequivocally oppose and condemn the effective abrogation of the fundamental meaning and purpose of Article 370 and the overturning of Article 35A. This was carried out through anti-democratic, unconstitutional legal manoeuvrings and accompanied by the deliberate armed intimidation of the people of Kashmir. What has taken place is dishonest and a fraud on both the letter and spirit of the relevant Constitutional provisions. Read more…
BOOK REVIEW: NARRATING AN EPIC LIFE
Venu Madhav Govindu
Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914–1948 by Ramachandra Guha, Gurgaon: Penguin Allen Lane, 2018; pp xx + 1129, ? 999.
Ever since he came to dominate Indian public life a century ago, M K Gandhi has been a source of endless interest and fascination. He played a fundamental role in India’s freedom movement, and in turn, enabled the demise of the idea of empire. Read more…
TALL CLAIMS OF INDIA’S ‘GREAT CIVILISATION’ ARE HUMBUG
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Two kids, who happened to be born in the Valmiki community, became victims of a deep rooted caste hatred which the caste Hindus have been nurturing since centuries. What was the fault of these kids? That they were Dalits, and that, too, of the community which is ‘supposed’ to keep the street, houses, ‘clean’. A community which has kept India clean, and carried the dirt of the caste Hindus for centuries, is not allowed to live a life with dignity. Most of the Valmiki bastis are out of sight for India’s politicians and officials. Not even the activists go to their place. Read more…
KASHMIR SWITCHED OFF
Basharat Ali, Iqbal Sonaullah And Mudasir Amin
It is the afternoon of 15 August 2019. We sit numb in our rented apartment in Delhi. While mainstream Indian media busies itself digging the wounds of Kashmir, barely any news has been allowed to escape the mountains since 5 August 2019. Read more…
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