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: JAMMU & KASHMIR KILLINGS: A DEPRESSING TALE WITH NO END IN SIGHT
Vinod Mubayi
The dastardly killing of 26 innocent men, 24 tourists from India (one Christian and the rest Hindus), 1 from Nepal (also Hindu) and 1 Kashmiri Muslim pony owner who worked in the tourist industry, by a group of terrorists on April 22 near the town of Pahalgam in the Kashmir Valley has been met with universal condemnation. The killings took place in the picturesque meadow of Baisaran a few miles beyond Pahalgam that was crowded with several hundred tourists. Why there were no army or police or other security personnel there on April 22 when the Kashmir Valley is filled with hundreds of thousands of military and paramilitary troops has not been explained by the authorities. It is useful to recall that after J&K statehood was abolished in August 2019, the control of all security personnel, including local police, is in the hands of the Central government in Delhi.
Read more…PEACE IN SOUTH ASIA — CERAS STATEMENT
CERAS (Centre sur l’asie du sud) condemns in unequivocal terms the killing of 26 civilians in Pahalgam, Kashmir on 22nd April 2025. While there are still a lot of unknowns, the attack in an already febrile environment was bound to escalate tensions. If that was their objective, the perpetrators have succeeded.
Read more…SAVARKAR AS A FREEDOM FIGHTER: SUPREME COURT HONOURABLE JUSTICES DIPANKAR DATTA & MANMOHAN REWRITE HISTORY OF INDIAN FREEDOM STRUGGLE!
Shamsul Islam
According to press reports a Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice Dipankar Datta [to retire in February 2030] and Justice Manmohan [to retire in 2027] temporarily paused legal proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi initiated by a Lucknow court concerning his defamatory remarks about Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966) on April 25, 2025. Rahul was charged with offences under Section 153A (promoting enmity) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While granting stay the bench recorded that Rahul had a “good point in law” which would entitle him to an order of stay on the summons.
Read more…ENTRENCHING COMMUNAL VIOLENCE, DISCRIMINATION AND EXCLUSION THROUGH STRUCTURES IN INDIA 2024
Irfan Engineer, Neha Dabhade, Mithila Raut
Introduction:
In 2024, as in previous years, communal violence has persisted in the form of structural violence, embedded within the legal and institutional framework of the state. Structural violence, as conceptualized by Johan Galtung, refers to systematic inequalities and injustices that are institutionalized within legal, political, and social structures, thereby disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. In this context, discriminatory legislation, selective implementation of existing laws, and state directives have played a crucial role in perpetuating structural violence.
Read more…SAMYUKT KISAN MORCHA PRESS RELEASE 21ST APRIL, 2025, NEW DELHI
Media Cell, Samyukt Kisan Morcha
- SKM supports All India General Strike of Workers on 20th May – Farmers will hold Tehsil Level Massive Protests
- Calls upon Farmers to Burn Effigies of Donald Trump, JD Vance, Narendra Modi on 21-23 April against Imposition of Unfair Trade Terms on India*
- SKM strongly condemns AAP led State Govt. of Punjab for unleashing repression on protesting farmers
- Farmers will Intensify Struggle against Dumping US Agricultural Produces; Imposition of Corporate Controlled Marketing Policy
- SKM will Hold 10 Mahapanchayats in Bihar to Appeal People to Punish the Anti- Farmer BJP in the coming State Assembly Elections*
KAPIL MISHRA, UMAR KHALID, AND THE UNEQUAL WEIGHT OF JUSTICE
Saurav Das
More than five years after communal riots tore through North East Delhi, a special court finally ordered a deeper investigation into BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s alleged role in a riot-related incident.
Read more…WHY TARIFF PARLEYS WITH US WILL HURT INDIAN FARMERS
Prabhat Patnaik
Elementary textbooks in economics invariably begin with a completely mythical concept: the concept of “perfect competition”, which is different from the concept of “free competition” that the classical economists and Marx had used.
Read more…FAILED NARRATIVE
Dawn Editorial
INDIA’S BJP-led government had apparently thought that it could exploit the Pahalgam tragedy to internationally isolate Pakistan, blaming this country for the atrocity without a whit of evidence.
Read more…LONG READ: ADANI’S MILLIONS IN MAURITIUS
Nileena MS
SOMETIME IN THE MIDDLE OF 2018, a team from the Central Bureau of Investigation touched down at the airport near Port Louis, the picturesque capital of the Indian Ocean tax haven of Mauritius. It had a straightforward task at hand. Over the past four years, the CBI had been investigating one of India’s most carefully-documented defence corruption cases.
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