By Sushil Kutty You can say, ‘What the duck?’ and stop reading right here. Or, take the excuse “Today – Dec. 21, 2020 – is the ‘Great Conjunction’ and ‘Winter Solstice’ rolled into one” and walk away. But think of the consequences: Do you fancy getting caught in...
By Veena Sharma It is not for nothing that the Garhwal region of the Himalayas is referred to as deva bhumi, the land of gods. The topography and climate of this sacred land have spawned a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, which is a natural heritage of...
By Conn Hallinan When President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 21 he will be faced with some very expensive problems, from bailing out the COVID-19 economy to getting a handle on climate change. Vaccinating over 300 million people will not be cheap and wrestling the U.S. hydrocarbon-based...
By Harihar Swarup The year, 2020, needs no introduction, neither does Sonu Sood. When the year kept throwing challenges at us, he inspired us to face them with kindness and compassion .The work that stood out was the Ghar Bhejo campaign to send migrants home and bring stranded...
By K Raveendran Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has a penchant for platitudes and hyperbole. Going by her track record with budgets and stimulus packages, while she promises the moon, she ends up delivering sweet nothing. Come February, she will be presenting her new budget—another magnum opus. This...
By Satyaki Chakraborty Even 73 years after independence, India’s women, especially young women are faced with innumerable constraints in getting employed. The gender gap in employment which was already there in the beginning of 1950’s is showing despite big increase in female education and expansion of vocational and...
By Cindy Forster Two realities collide today in Bolivia. One is the power of a murderous, kleptocratic elite that overthrew an elected government last November, employing violence to impose its will and reprivatize the economy. The other is the people who just voted massively for the return of...
By Mark Gruenberg For those not fortunate enough to recall, Phil Ochs was one of American nation’s most profound singer/songwriters in the period that bridged the Civil Rights, antiwar, and feminist movements. He was born on December 19, 1940: This week, he would have been 80 years old....
By Prabhat Patnaik The kisan agitation has become more than simply a fight for MSP or against the corporatization of agriculture. Through its practice, it is recovering a narrative that is opposed to the hegemonic narrative promoted under neo-liberalism. And as the Modi government’s skullduggery for breaking the...
By Arun Srivastava The Supreme Court refusing to “interfere with the (farmers’) protest”, holding the view “at this stage the agitation should be allowed to continue without impediment” as they have right to carry out protests and not passing an order to evict the agitating farmers, have not...
By Dr Arun Mitra The recently released National Family Health Survey-5 report is a worrying factor. That even after much advertised Poshan Abhiyan the children of our country remain stunted in such a large number calls for review of the efforts to provide nutrition to all the countrymen...
By Gyan Pathak Hoping for progress, government was claiming the same, but we actually regressed. UNDP’s Human Development Report 2020 has just revealed. In place of human development, India registered a human decline, went two ranks below, from 129th to 131st among 189 countries in the world in...
By Sushil Kutty BJP proposes, Ram disposes! Those who did not know that maxim should sit at the feet of Yogi Adityanath with folded hands. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is by far closer to Bhagwan Ram than any other mortal in Lord Ram’s scheme of things. The...
By Priyanka Preet Succeeding generations will perhaps remember us as a generation of dissenters–forever resisting, sloganeering, thriving and rebelling. But they must also remember female dissenters kindly for they have revolutionised the idea of citizenship through consistent dissent. With the surge of extremist governments across the globe...
By Rahil Nora Chopra With the demise of master strategist Ahmed Patel, the Congress does not have even a single leader who can mediate with the allied parties or regional satraps effectively. The Congress high command is searching for a leader who can seek feedback from workers at the...
By Binoy Viswam The people of Kerala have once again proclaimed their political determination by giving a thumping victory for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the local self-government elections. It was so convincing that out of 14 district panchayats LDF could win 11. Out of 152 block...
By Prakash Karat The Local Self-Governing Institutions (LSGI) elections in Kerala have resulted in a resounding victory for the Left Democratic Front. The LDF has won 11 out of the 14 district panchayats; 108 of the 152 block panchayats; and 514 of the 941 gramapanchayats. The LDF...
By Arun Srivastava The Supreme Court has advised the Modi government to constitute a panel having representatives of the Centre as well as the farmers’ unions to end the dead lock between the two parties over the three new farm laws. . The observation of the court “your...