Farewell to Sasi etta, brother K.P....
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist,...
Environment
Featured Stories
India
Stolen Heirloom or poppycock
Reading a recent news suddenly my mind raced back across to a time when as an inquisitive child of twelve I used to read all available printed stuff in Assamese or Bengali.I recall a debate in Bengali magazine PROBASI between an irate eminent scientist Meghnad Saha and an elderly Hindu scholar who argued that ancient shastras had anticipated all the[Read More…]
COVID Response Watch
Shadow of Covid lingers over the erstwhile Kingdom of Cooch Behar
The princely state of Cooch Behar merged with the Dominion of India on August 8, 1949 and became a part of the State of West Bengal on January 1, 1950. To go to Cooch Behar, one has to cross Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, which were also once part of other neighbouring hill kingdoms and annexed by the British. During my[Read More…]
World
‘Simply Inconceivable’ to Dump Fukushima Water in Pacific, Critics Say After Latest IAEA Report
Critics of a Japanese plan to release filtered radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the Pacific Ocean intensified their opposition to the proposal on Wednesday after the United Nations agency responsible for promoting nuclear energy said the company that operated the plant has adequately demonstrated its ability to measure the water’s radioactivity. The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this[Read More…]
Globalisation
Tossing Neoliberalism into the Dumpster
It’s official, according to a speech by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the United States is jumping off the neoliberal globalization bandwagon (a root cause of domestic extremism) and it couldn’t come soon enough as institutions of government are sucking up more and more angry exhaust fumes from constituents, as well as encountering a world trade map with China bullying[Read More…]
Human Rights
Inquiring into the action taken and justice delivered on the matter of police firing on protestors in Tuticorin
To Mr. M. K. Stalin Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu, Secretariat, Chennai Email ID: cmo@tn.gov.in Dear Sir, This memorandum is being submitted by the jury members of the fact-finding team, set up in the name of People’s Inquest, to inquire into the Tuticorin Police Firing, which resulted in the publication of a five-part report entitled, ‘The day Tuticorin[Read More…]
Imperialism
The Wars We Don’t (Care to) See – Aggression Made Easy
by Norman Solomon and David Barsamian [The following is excerpted and adapted from David Barsamian’s recent interview with Norman Solomon at AlternativeRadio.org.] David Barsamian: American Justice Robert Jackson was the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials. He made an opening statement to the Tribunal on November 21, 1945, because there was some concern at the time that it would be an[Read More…]
Communal Harmony
Who are the Muslims and Christians in India: Understanding the ‘Hindu’ fear of Muslims and Christians
We have been seeing attacks on Christians and Muslims in India for the last few years. Several Indians are worried about it and fear for the future of democracy in India. People wonder what the logic of all these attack is. How can nearly 80% of ‘Hindus’ feel threatened by some 13% Muslims and some 2% Christians? Why are[Read More…]
Climate Change
GM Crops Likely to Worsen Climate Change Related Problems for Farmers
The shadow of climate change related problems hangs heavy over most farmers as they struggle increasingly against unexpected weather conditions, extreme weather events and disasters. In such conditions it is very important for government policy to avoid any changes that can aggravate such difficulties and problems faced by farmers. Hence it is very unfortunate to see some authorities bent upon[Read More…]
Environmental Protection
Plastic Pollution in Destinations: A Growing Threat to Environmental Sustainability
The natural surroundings of tourist destinations play a significant role in attracting visitors. However, the contamination of these environments by plastic garbage poses a threat to tourism. When tourist spots are littered with plastic waste, the likelihood of visitors choosing these destinations decreases, resulting in a significant decline in tourist numbers and subsequent economic losses. The tourism sector resumed operations[Read More…]
Counter Solutions
Forget GDP growth, it’s sustainable wellbeing we need to aim for
I’ve just been to a three-day conference on sustainable prosperity in Europe, attended by thousands of people. In a stirring opening address, the speaker said governments must stop misusing GDP growth as their goal and move swiftly and urgently to sustainable wellbeing within planetary boundaries. They got a standing ovation. The young leader of a climate and social justice movement[Read More…]
Resource Crisis
The Project of Capital and the Project of the Proletariat in a time of World Crisis
ABSTRACT This is a response to the two sets of articles written by Sajai Jose on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and on the world’s and India’s hunger crisis. It is in two parts. In the first part it lays the historical background of the response of capital in the face of periodic crises it faces and people’s response to it.[Read More…]
Patriarchy
Eradicate Dowry, Eliminate Dowry Violence
On 22 May 2023, a woman who married six months ago was burned alive in Sawai Madhopur Rajasthan for dowry. Her father stated that she was severely tortured for a motorcycle and Rs 50,000[2]. 22-year-old Lovepreet Kaur, a resident of Ludhiana, Punjab, got married to Gurinder Singh on 24 June 2022[3]. On 18 April 2023, within ten months of her[Read More…]
Palestine
Raising the Palestinian flag in Daley Plaza Center, Chicago: A powerful symbolic gesture
Caption: The Palestinian flag next to the American flag at the Flag Raising Ceremony hosted by AMP-Chicago on Friday, May 26th, 2023 at the Daley Plaza Center [Rima Najjar] As a bastion of Jewish Zionism, Chicago is no New York City, but in part thanks to Rahm Emanuel’s tenure as mayor of Chicago (2011–2019) and his ties to Israel, it feels[Read More…]
South Asia
Whose Sentiments are Hurt?
Whose Sentiments are Hurt? This poser is slowly being raised – may be – in rather muted terms in this part of the world. Right from Karachi to Patiala or Uttarakhand to B’desh concerned citizens or victims of this bogey, one finds there is an increasing audience to this query. You could easily listen to it among the Ahmadiya Jamaat[Read More…]
Annihilate Caste
Migration is essential to spread Ambedkarism
Migration has played a crucial vital role in the development and evolution of humankind. Exchange of idea’s, knowledge, cultures, food, medicines, economics….. religion, philosophy, and ideologies etc together contribute to this process. Conquest and War, Trade and Commerce and Ecology and Environment were principal reasons for people to migrate in earlier history. Today, it has been replaced with opportunities of[Read More…]
Life/Philosophy
A Response to The New York Times’ Ritualistic Denunciation of Mao’s Cultural Revolution…
Or How Critical Thinking Is Deleted in “The Decade That Cannot Be Deleted” The May 19 print edition of the New York Times featured an opinion piece by Pamela Paul titled “The Decade That Cannot Be Deleted.” It is a vicious and uninformed takedown of the Cultural Revolution that was initiated and led by Mao Zedong in 1966—and that lasted[Read More…]
Arts/Literature
Now I Am Ravana’s Head
My first reaction to the book that Rajiv Malhotra, from America, published on Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, Shashi Tharoor, Ramachandra Guha, Sheldon Pollock, Wendy Doniger, Devdutt Pattanaik, Kancha Ilaiah, Audrey Truschke and Michael Witzel,with a title “Ten Heads of Ravana”’. The chapter on me is entitled as Kancha Ilaiah—Bharat Vikhander There is team of intellectual Ksatriyas They say I am[Read More…]
Book Review
Book Review: Marginalised but not Defeated
Marginalised but not Defeated Tarun Kanti Bose Uppal Publishing House Price: 1,295 Year: 2023 Pg: 277 The book, like the author, a seasoned public interest journalist, travels far and wide, among ordinary and invisible people, in remote regions, across the fragmented landscape of India. Tarun Kanti Bose writes about the demography, topography, society, politics and culture, and the anthropology and[Read More…]
