State governments are perplexed by the long delay in convening the quarterly Goods and Services Tax council meeting. The council has not met over the last four-and-a-half months whereas the Procedure and Conduct of Business Regulations of the GST Council stipulates that it has to meet once every quarter of a financial year. The West Bengal government shot off a[Read More…]
Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) funded under article 282 of the Constitution not only pose a threat to federalism but also lead to misapplication of scarce public resources To Shri G C Murmu Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) Dear Shri Murmu, Earlier, vide my letter dated 20-9-2022, I had requested your office to conduct a special audit of a[Read More…]
Letter to the Chief Ministers Respected Chief Ministers, Subject:- Increasing threat to federalism from Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs)– Need to form a Federal Front of the States to persuade the Centre not to proliferate CSSs, instead transfer existing CSSs with the associated fund allocations to the States I invite your attention to my letter dated March 2, 2022 addressed to[Read More…]
To Shri Bhagwant Mann Chief Minister Punjab Dear Shri Mann, Let me take this opportunity to congratulate you on taking over as the Chief Minister of Punjab. I am sure that your government will help open a new chapter in the politics of the State for the good of the people. In the federal framework in which the Centre and[Read More…]
To Thiru M K Stalin Chief Minister Tamilnadu Dear Thiru Stalin, In your recently released book, Ungalil Oruvan (One Amongst You), you have highlighted, among others, the necessity for the States to come together to protect the equitable federal framework in which the Centre and the States should function. On the occasion of the book release, as per news reports, you have[Read More…]
Congress Party vice president, Rahul Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha that this country is a union of states, not a nation. Rahul Gandhi raised this issue in his speech in Parliament. He also said that there is no concept of nation in the constitution. And he also said that the culture, language and history of each state is different.[Read More…]
To Shri K Chandrasekhar Rao Chief Minister Telangana Dear Shri Chandrasekhar Rao garu, I had earlier written to you on 8-2-2022 welcoming your opposition to the Centre’s unilateral proposal to privatise the Singareni Collieries. Considering it from the point of view of federalism, in that letter I had suggested that the States should come together to counter the growing threat[Read More…]
The importance of cooperative federalism has been widely recognized in India in the interests of justice, democracy and national integration. Unfortunately, however, in recent times not all has been well in the context of the principles and the spirit of cooperative federalism being followed at the level of the union government, and it is certainly very much in the larger[Read More…]
Israeli drones, warplanes strike Iran and Syria 
People Can Be Killed, But Not Their Voices…! 
Gallows Humor in Washington and Brazil 
Why the Doomsday Clock Statement This Year Should be Questioned Widely 
Moment of Reckoning 
Mega Infrastructure project in Great Nicobar Island would be violative of the Constitutional mandate and adversely impact the lives of the local tribals 
Greta Thunberg’s arrest shows why we must abolish the Energy Charter Treaty 
Support Iran Women struggle, but Avoid US Trap 
Lives In Acting 
A Feminist Defense of Urfi Javed 
India China Border Conflict-7: Arunachal : Demographic mess and ethnic strife 
Multi-nation Holocaust Mourning Best be Followed by Remembering Why and How it was Allowed to Happen 
Why success of the movie ‘Pathan’ matters? 
Why Australia Should Quit Military Links With Serial War Criminal America 
Bursting of Adani Bubble Due to Hindenburg Impact; Can Modi Govt Absolve of Its Responsibility? 
Violence begets violence! 
Activists Take Over a Street to Protest Tyre Nichols Killing Doomsday Clock Jitters and “How to Fix a Broken Planet” 
I Wrote this Myself and Enjoyed it 
Why are whole grains important? Condemn the Indian Government’s attempt to stop screening of the BBC documentary 
Must the motor car industry be so selfish, must the government neglect public transport ? 
Tempting the Banksters: Zelensky Courts US Companies 
War And No War Against Russia: Contradictory Statements By European Leaders 
Considering the Invasions of Panama and Ukraine 
Why Checking Climate Change Needs an Entirely New Framework 
Nuclear Fusion Won’t Save the Climate, But It Might Blow Up the World 
The U.S. Foreign Policy Establishment Proves in Ukraine That It Forgot the Lessons of Vietnam 
Why a Small City in Ukraine Is a Focal Point in the War 
A State for Some of Its Citizens: Captured Black Soldier’s Saga Highlights Racism in Israel 
Legislators Called Upon to Pass the No Ban Act Now! 
Is India still a Republic or a Monarchy? 
Game of Chess, India Bangladesh Enclaves, Constitution Amendment and Godda Power Plant What Can the United States Bring to the Peace Table for Ukraine? 
Ukraine War To Cost Germany 4.5% of GDP In 2024, Finds Study 
Burkina Faso Ejects French Troops 
Positive Tipping Point Disinformation 
McKinsey goes Global 
Vaddakandal Massacre 
CPI (ML)Leader Ranajit Singh passes Away 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
Covid rocks India’s federal structure, amidst calls for reform
On 2 June 2021, Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik wrote a letter to all chief ministers urging them to “unite and form a consensus that the Centre should procure Covid vaccines and distribute them free to the States.” With this rallying call, Navin Patnaik, waded into the controversy between the central and state governments over who should foot the bill[Read More…]