Opinion
Appeal
The legacy of IPA, founded by Nikhil Chakravartty, the doyen of journalism in India, to keep the flag of independent media flying high, is facing the threat of extinction due to the effect of the Covid pandemic. Only an emergency funding can avert such an eventuality. We appeal to all those who believe in the freedom of expression to contribute to this noble cause.Bhagwat Faces War Of Survival With Modi-Led Saffronites
By Arun Srivastava RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat is desperate to fix the soup he has landed in. His advice to Hindu society to refrain from raking up temple-mosque is part of this course-correction exercise. While suggesting to neo-Hindutva crusaders to refrain from raking up such issues, Bhagwat also cautioned...
Babasaheb Ambedkar Lives On In The Generations Who Came After Him
By Krishna Jha He was found dead in his cell in the prison where he was brought just two days before his exams started. The reports said he died of shock from multiple injuries. His fault was that he belonged to a Dalit family and wanted to be like...
Yellow Taxis Of Kolkata At The End Of Their Road
By Tirthankar Mitra Introduced in the 1960s, the yellow Ambassador taxis, which had come to be synonymous with Kolkata, are at the end of the road. Come March, 2025 most of this nearly 7,000 fleet will be off the road following a Supreme Court order of 2009 together with...
Land, Democratic Protests And ‘Unlawful’ Activities In Chhattisgarh
By Radhika Chitkara On November 8, 2024, the Chhattisgarh government issued a gazette notification declaring the Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM) as an ‘unlawful organisation’ under its Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). Like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, the CSPSA empowers the government to proscribe organisations which, in...
Labour Militancy Erupts In New York In Runup To The Holidays
By Taryn Fivek In the run-up to the holiday season, the diverse, working-class New York City borough of Queens seemed to suddenly erupt with labour militancy. Both the Amazon Teamsters and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) took action on December 19 to demand the same thing: that management...
New RBI Governor Has Limited Role To Play In Stabilising The Rupee
By Nantoo Banerjee It will be unfair to expect much from the new Reserve Bank governor, Sanjay Malhotra, a career bureaucrat and former revenue secretary, in terms of delivery of key functions of a central bank chief such as controlling inflation, stabilizing domestic currency, foreign exchange control and lifting...
Vengeance At The Heart Of BJP’s FIR Against LoP Rahul Gandhi
By Sushil Kutty The Winter Session of Parliament went its way after days of pandemonium. Some would say to a “wintery end”, what with the ice-cold vibes between the Modi government and the Opposition led by LoP Rahul Gandhi, especially after the BJP-led NDA government filed an FIR against...
Decoding Dissanayake’s India Visit: Are Delhi-Colombo Ties Back On Track?
By Girish Linganna Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s recent trip (15-17th Dec 2024) to India is an important moment in strengthening the ties between the two neighbouring countries. This visit highlights the growing bond and cooperation between India and Sri Lanka. This was his first official trip abroad...
Centre’s ‘One Nation One Poll’ Bill May Not Pass The Opposition Test
By Kalyani Shankar The introduction of the controversial bill, ‘One Nation One Poll,’ has created more hullabaloo than acceptance. The BJP has been talking about it, but now after introducing it has sent it to the joint select committee of the Parliament. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in a...
India Yet To Meet Forest Cover Goal, 35 Years After National Forest Policy
By Dr. Gyan Pathak India is still struggling to meet the target of the National Forest Policy set 35 years ago in 1988. In 2023, it could attain a forest and tree cover of only 25.17 percent against the target of a minimum one-third (33.3 percent) of the total...
Saudi Arabia And United States May Part Ways Over Security Agreement
By Asad Mirza As the Biden administration prepares to relinquish power next month, it may leave without accomplishing a much-discussed diplomatic goal: the normalisation of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, accompanied by a formal US security agreement with Saudi Arabia. The future of a formal US-Saudi security agreement...
Can Pakistan Economy Be Bailed Out By IMF’s USD 7 Billion Package?
By Tirthankar Mitra Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif securing a $7 billion package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September was accompanied by a commitment to break Pakistan’s longstanding reliance on bailout programmes. Since 1958, it has taken recourse to it 20 times. The country is struggling with...
New Waste-To-Energy Plant In Bawana Threatens Lives Of Delhiites
By Shalaka Chauhan, Abdul Shakeel A new waste-to-energy incineration plant is set to be established in Bawana to burn 3,000 tonnes of mixed municipal solid waste daily per day. Currently, Delhi burns 7,250 tonnes of garbage daily across plants in Okhla, Tehkhand, Ghazipur, and Bawana, with plans to expand...
How Progressive Civil Society Became Professional NGO Culture
By Anthony Nadler The Democratic Party has failed to earn the support of what was once its working-class base. This ought to be a moment of reckoning for the party. The anger it faces is justified and necessary to intensify pressure to abandon its tepid political strategies and overreliance...
New Delhi’s Dilemma: Pro-Modi Trump Policies Are Blatantly Anti-India
By K Raveendran While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘friend’, the US President-elect Donald J Trump, is set to move into White House, once again, it need not be particularly beneficial for India. If anything, Trump can be said to be “anti-India” even while remaining “pro-Modi”. The camaraderie contrasts starkly...
The Communist Party Of India: A Century Of Struggles And Sacrifices
By D Raja History of the Communist Party of India in the last 100 years is a glorious saga of struggles and sacrifices for our country and its people. History of our freedom movement and our progress after independence are incomplete without the blood and sweat of communists all...
India’s Decent Job Creation Flagship Programme Goes Off-Track
By Dr. Gyan Pathak India’s only decent job creation flagship programme announced in the Union Budget 2024-25 has gone out of track. Though supposed to be launched on August 1, it is now likely to be launched in January 2025, since details of the programmes are not yet ready....
Making The MGNREGA Toothless Has Been Neoliberal Modi Govt’s Goal
By Prabhat Patnaik The aim of all fascistic governments is to disempower the people and the Modi government is no exception. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which promised one member in every rural household a maximum of 100 days of employment per year, was a...
