By Sandeep Pandey, Venkatesh Narayanan, Kushagra Kumar* Dr Lubna Sarwath is a fighter. In a survey conducted by the leading South Indian daily Deccan Chronicle the residents of Hyderabad have highlighted conservation of environment as a priority issue on which they would like their Mayor to focus on and Lubna has dedicated her life to the cause of environment, specifically preservation of water bodies, and that is why she has emerged as the most suitable choice for the Mayor of the city in this survey.

On November 8, Counterview carried an article titled “Pump and dump strategy? Erosion of GSFC's Rs 250 crore investment in Canadian firm”, by a 1975 batch IAS bureaucrat, who was called a “turnaround man” by the Times of India way back in 2006. Second article by Luke on the subject (the first one was on January 4 ), it is based a letter he wrote to Gujarat chief secretary Anil Mukim protesting against a 2013 Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals investment of Rs 250 crore in Canadian firm Karnalyte in 2013, whose value has now fallen to Rs 10 crore! Based on the article – which argues that the PSU investment was allegedly made without taking into account the Canadian firm’s profile the for production and supply of potash, facing glut in the international market – the “Indian Express” carried a follow-up on November 10, even as quoting GSFC CMD Arvind Agrawal as stating he had not seen the letter, as it “is very long”, adding, “It is a seven-year-old matter and there is no point...

By Basharat Rashid* For last few years, the young writers in Kashmir valley have been showing exhilarating passion in publishing their books on different aspects in nook and corner here. Most of the writers have been writing novels and poetry with particularly focus on the youth empowerment, social evils, conflict,  nature and women empowerment. 

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* History is about forgetting and remembering within different waves of time. If a society fails to view its present in the mirror of history, that society condemned itself to the dustbin of future. The Indian society is in such a dangerous crossroad. The ideology of Hindutva led by RSS, politics of BJP and policies of Modi government threaten the lives, livelihood of Indians and weakens India and Indian democracy. The failure of Modi-led BJP government is written in all fronts of governance from home fronts to foreign policies.

By Prof Amitabh Kundu, PC Mohanan* The problems of non-materialization of full citizenship rights exist not only for persons arriving from other countries but also for those who have moved from one state to another within the country. These problems arise in forms and contexts different from those of the international migrants.

By Prof Utpal De, Dr Simi Mehta* The Covid-19 pandemic has struck a huge blow to the economic growth and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of almost every country in the world. However, we see some resilience in the performance of the Bangladesh economy. Per the recent report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bangladesh’s per capita GDP would marginally overtake that of India in the 2020-21 financial year.

Diego Maradona By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* A portrait size painting of Diego Maradona was on display at certain ruins in war torn Syria where people were mourning the death of the legend. In the entire Latin American world, people are pouring their respect to Maradona who died in Buenos Aires, the Argentine Capital where his dead body was kept at the presidential palace as people flocked in to pay their last respect to the legend. The Argentine President declared a three day moaning. Tributes poured in the world over whether it is nations or sports federations or political activists who Maradona supported through their causes. On his passing away, we need to ponder this question as what separates giants like Diego Maradona or Mohammad Ali from rest of the sports icons who might have been hugely successful financially but the grief and outpouring of their passing away will never be the same. Of course, we know, in our own country, there are cricketers who we worship but except for endorsing...

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The police brutality on farmers protesting against the three farm bills passed by Parliament needs to be unconditionally condemned. The farmers are agitating against the bills since these were passed without proper discussion in Parliament. The fear is that these bills will pave the way for corporatisation of agriculture and will leave farmers and other sections of dependent on the farming community, especially agricultural workers, at the mercy of corporate houses.

By Nava Thakuria* Largely smashed by the Covid-19 pandemic the mainstream Indian media has witnessed an alarming number of incidents relating to journalists’ killings this year. As the year approaches the end, India turns out to be an unsafe country for professional journalists after Mexico only. The billion plus nation braces news about journo-murders relentlessly in the second half of 2020.

By Moin Qazi* When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. -- John Ruskin We’ve all heard of endangered species and forests -- now imagine crafts are at risk of going extinct. A rising number of indigenous crafts are now in danger of becoming endangered on account of their time-consuming nature and fewer craftspeople possessing these specialized skills. Times are changing and not all young people want to take over their parents’ old jobs, nor is it easy to attract new people to enter these trades.

By NS Venkataraman* With the year 2020 inevitably ending in the next few weeks, the thought amongst the people all over the world is whether the coming year 2021 will be free of Covid-19 (often dubbed as Wuhan virus, as it known to have spread from Wuhan in China).In the early 2020, many people thought that Covid-19 would be a localized affair in China but later on, it proved to be a global pandemic.

By Our Representative In an campaign organised by several women’s collectives and civil society, as many as 20,000 activists participated in a mass pledge taken across Odisha “help end gender based violence in the society”. The mass pledge was organised by the women’s collective Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha, Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Atmashakti Trust.

Dr BR Ambedkar  By Shamsul Islam*  The Constituent Assembly (CA) of India passed the Constitution on November 26, 1949 after almost three years' deliberations. It was an amazing contribution in the history of the modern liberal democracies as it was not only the lengthiest constitution in the world history (underlining the fact that the polity it was to govern was diverse and vast) but also created a polity based on egalitarian, democratic and non-sectarian ideals never attempted in the past in non-western world.

A Sangh Parivar campaign in UP against Love Jihad  By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The Love Jihad rhetoric is back in action in almost all the BJP-ruled states. They appear to be competing with each other in proclaiming to come up with a law to stop the ‘conspiracy’ to convert Hindu girls into Islam in the guise of ‘love’. The fact is, as a political party, BJP has been very active in creating issues and narratives which are woven around Muslim conspiracy theories. It suits to its political interests.

By Shreshth Virmani* Each year, India observes communal harmony week from November 19 to 25. This was started in 1992 by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH) , an autonomous body under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The aim of the week is to promote fraternity, maintain peace and communal harmony, and to run a fundraising campaign for children affected by violence.

Counterview Desk The civil rights network, All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE), which is to observe Constitution Day on November 26 as Reclaiming Social Justice Day, has decided to hold a large number of programmes to oppose the “dilution of Constitutional framework of social justice and equality" by the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, accusing the “right-wing Brahmanical/ Hindutva and patriarchal forces” of seeking to “destroy the Constitutional guarantees of equality, social justice and measures for affirmative action like reservations and other welfare measures.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowing before Dr Ambedkar  By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* Medha Patkar is a woman of indomitable spirit. She is a person who has sacrificed a career in order to spend her life, accompanying the Adivasis and other vulnerable and excluded groups, particularly those who have been displaced by mega-projects. On Monday November 23, addressing a webinar, Celebrating the Constitution of India, she was at her fiery best.

Counterview Desk Protesting against “repeated misuse” of procedures of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, 2006, while clearing New Delhi’s Central Vista Redevelopment Project, and “failure” of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC)-Infra 2 to carry out mandatory detailed project scrutiny, citing agenda item No 56.3.14 (click here ), India’s environmentalists have said that not only was the “iconic” Parliament building delinked from the need for detailed examination, a similar approach is now been proposed for the rest of the Central Vista project.

By Darshan Desai*  BSP in 2002: Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwar, Inko maaro jutey chaar BSP in 2007: Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwar, Inko pujo barambaar Once a Dalit icon and a tough ruler, who could get away with major success with both these diametrically opposite caste slogans in Uttar Pradesh, the inimitable Mayawati is today scrounging for every inch of space for existence. And getting lonelier.

By Moin Qazi* The Covid-19 pandemic is a human tragedy of potentially biblical proportion and has convulsed societies like never before .Yet some sectors have proved resilient even in these challenging times. The sturdiest among these is the self help group movement in India.

By Salman Khurshid* Of late the Supreme Court had become a favourite whipping horse for restless people. Those who are by nature and training careful use respectable syntax and vocabulary but others resort to expressions that cannot but damage the standing of the Court. The serious concerns being expressed suggest a deep disappointment with the outcomes of proceedings in the recent times of challenge.

By NS Venkataraman* India presently imports more than 220 million tonne per annum of crude oil while Indian production of crude oil is only around 30 million tonne per annum. India imports around 35 billion cubic metre of natural gas per annum while Indian production is only around 30 billion cubic metre per annum. The domestic production of crude oil and natural gas is almost stagnant at present, with no feasibility of increasing the production in significant quantities in the foreseeable future.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The principles and ideological commitments in politics, culture, religion and social practices breed culture of puritanism both in its progressive and regressive forms. The transformation of society to lead an exemplary life is the core in the politics of puritanism as a movement of divinity. Both right wing reactionaries and left-wing radicals use puritanism like applied theology to the concerns of their followers.

Counterview Desk In a fresh move, the Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network (DHRDNet), a coalition of over 1,000 Dalit human rights defenders from different states of India, has called upon the United Nations to “build back better on descent and caste-based discrimination”, claiming, “India's response to the pandemic” has sought to resurrect some of the “worst excesses of its casteist past.”

Controversial American Indologist Audrey Truschke , associate professor of South Asian history at Rutgers University, Newark, in a detailed essay, “The living Mahabharata”, points to how “immorality, sexism, politics, war” in the “polychromatic Indian epic pulses with relevance to the present day”.  *** Author of “Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court” (2016), “Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India’s Most Controversial King” (2017) and “The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule” (forthcoming, 2021), the essay has been published in Aeon , a not-for profit with offices in London, Melbourne and New York. An excerpt: The Mahabharata condemns many of the appalling things it depicts, but one area where its response is more tepid concerns the treatment meted out to women. The story of Draupadi, the leading Pandava heroine, is the most well-known. Before the great war, her husband Yudhishthira gambles her away in a dice game, and Draupadi’s new owner...

Counterview Desk  Controversial American Indologist Audrey Truschke , associate professor of South Asian history at Rutgers University, Newark, in a detailed essay, “The living Mahabharata”, points to how “immorality, sexism, politics, war” in the “polychromatic Indian epic pulses with relevance to the present day”.  *** Author of “Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court” (2016), “Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India’s Most Controversial King” (2017) and “The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule” (forthcoming, 2021), the essay has been published in Aeon , a not-for profit with offices in London, Melbourne and New York. An excerpt: The Mahabharata condemns many of the appalling things it depicts, but one area where its response is more tepid concerns the treatment meted out to women. The story of Draupadi, the leading Pandava heroine, is the most well-known. Before the great war, her husband Yudhishthira gambles her away in a dice game, a...

By Bhaskar Sur*  Amartya Sen was the second Bengali to win the Nobel after Rabindranath Tagore and enjoy almost Olympian fame. In his time Keynes certainly was more influential but not more famous. A polymath, Sen made signal contribution to social choice theory and gender equality, but what made him famous was his attempt to understand hunger.

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Selective reporting of Barack Obama's new memoir, “A Promised Land”, has given another handle to the opponents of Rahul Gandhi to mock at him. Most of the time, once an election is passed and if the Congress performs better, media does not speak about him, but if the party fails, they start not only mocking him, seeking to to replace him, or ask other party leaders to rebel against him.

By NS Venkataraman* Sivakasi and Coimbatore are two regions in Tamil Nadu well known for entrepreneurial skill and initiatives. While Coimbatore focuses on textile and foundry industries, the main focus of Sivakasi region has been in the field of printing and production of fire crarckers and matchsticks. Both the regions have substantial share in the Indian market space for their products.

A writeup by Utpal Aich* , a former Union ministry of external affairs ministry official, who retired on January 31, 2015 after serving for 38 years, and last served as first secretary at the Indian Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is now  reportedly  engaged in studying India's freedom struggle, the role of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army (INA). This is an excerpt from the author's introduction to Netaji's book “The Indian Struggle 1920-1934”, which was later revised into “Indian Struggle 1920-1942": *** Subhas Chandra Bose was on forced exile in Vienna, Austria, in 1934, and he was undergoing medical treatment there when he was approached by M/s. Wishart and Co., a Publishing Company of London, for writing a book on Indian politics. He was happy to receive such an offer and decided to name the book “The Indian Struggle 1920 –1934”. Initially, he was asked to submit the manuscript by August, 1934, and the book was scheduled to be published in ...

Counterview Desk A new report, “Length of the Last Mile Delays and Hurdles in NREGA Wage Payments”, prepared by LibTech India and published by the Azim Premji University, with a foreword by development economist Jean Dreze, one of the brains behind NREGA, has said that aadhaar-based payments and centralisation has meant that workers “have little clue regarding where their wages have been credited and what to do when their payments get rejected.”

By Moin Qazi* Nagpur has been a traditional and fertile hub for voluntary organizations and social workers. It has been home to a number of activists whose social chromosomes have inspired them to undertake humanitarian work for their fellow brethren. The result is a confluence of so many rivulets of social activism which have merged into a vibrant social movement .This is one reason why several reformist crusades had their birth in the region. A member of this social corps who has carved a space for himself through his committed service to the community’s underprivileged is Salman Ahmed. His social vehicle, Fikr Foundation which he founded in 2011, has been supporting wide ranging causes both at the individual and community level. His sister-in-law Dr Saba Ahmed is a pediatrician and manages the organization’s periodical health camps for children. Relief and rehabilitation are the key activities of the organization. There are several slum pockets in Nagpur where rains are a regular ha...

Counterview Desk Harvard-educated policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, who was finance minister Yashwant Sinha’s adviser in late 1990s, and then perceived as close to then Union home minister LK Advani, in a Facebook post has revealed how the then Prime Minister AB Vajpayee wanted “all conversions to be registered by district Collectors or magistrates after application through proper channels.”

By Our Representative A plea, launched by three Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) students, and signed by 70 persons, most of them part of the “IIM-A community”, has sought Allahabad High Court chief justice Govind Mathur’s intervention to dismiss move before a district court and the High Court seeking the removal a 17th century Shahi Idgah mosque adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura, calling the temple and the mosque symbols of “religious harmony in our country.”

By Arup Mitra, Debdatta Saha* Human history has seen many diseases caused by external agents, like rats or viruses (the 1918 Spanish flu being one of the most fatal ones in the not-so-distant past). The Ebola virus causes havoc in the African sub-continent at regular intervals. The latter, though, contained in terms of its geographical spread. For the ones that have achieved a near global coverage, such as the Spanish flu, the disruption to the economic system has not been as large as the current pandemic. The reason is the hyper-connectivity and co-dependence in supply networks that globalization has achieved. Like a dominoes effect, a shock to the system at one location spills over to all other points in the connected system. The quick succession of SARS, MERS and now the current COVID-19 pandemic is only a reminder of the obvious; though the popular press has compared the ongoing pandemic to a black swan event, academic researchers have long been warning us about an impending threat...

By Bobby Ramakant, Kushagra Kumar, Sandeep Pandey* Recently, 48-year-old Faisal Khan, who revived Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s Khudai Khidmatgar , and his colleagues Chand Mohammad, Alok Ratan and Nilesh Gupta, were arrested for defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion. They had undertaken the '84 Kos Parikrama' of Braj in Mathura, after which they paid a visit to the Nand Baba Mandir, where they received prasad from the temple. Faisal recited verses from Ramcharitmanas to the priest. Faisal Khan and Chand Mohammad offered namaz within the temple premises on October 29 with due permission from the temple priest.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* Love jihad is an insidious, patriarchal, misogynist and anti-Muslim political project of Hindutva forces seeking to undermine liberal, secular and constitutional democratic society in India. The freedom to love and marry in India is part of the right to life and liberty guaranteed by the Indian constitution. It is further fortified by the Special Marriage Act (1954), which upholds the secular character of individual right to love and marry outside one’s own religion and caste.

By Irfan Yattoo*  It was 11 am on November 13, when Mohammad Sadeeq Koli, a teacher at Government Middle School Chrunda village of Uri in northern Kashmir, was busy with 8th class examination when all of a sudden shelling started at Line of Control (LoC).

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), acclaimed for his unsentimental depictions of the social and psychological disorientation because of the imposition of Western customs and values upon traditional African society, and American James Baldwin (1924-1987), known to have explored intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western society, went into an interesting conversation, went into an interesting conversation in 1980 on beauty, morality, and political power of art.  Recalling the conversation, Maria Popova writes in “Brain Pickings”, an e-journal claiming to be in search for “meaning across literature, science, art, philosophy, and the various other tentacles of human thought and feeling”, says, “Those who tell you ‘Do not put too much politics in your art’ are not being honest. If you look very carefully you will see that they are the same people who are quite happy with the situation as it is… What they are saying is don’t upset the system.” ***  “...

Right: Reena   Counterview Desk Reena, a 33 year old widow with two little children, ekes out a living working as domestic help. She lives in Delhi’s Kusumpur Pahari, a slum settlement with extremely poor physical and social infrastructure. Reena applied for a ration card in the Food Department of the Delhi government in September 2018 and in January 2019 she filed a Right to Information (RTI) application regarding the action taken on her request for a ration card.

By Haider Abbas* US President Donald Trump, who is saddled with every power till January 20, 2021, before what comes as the ‘inauguration-day’, may have lost to Joseph Biden. But Trump, as he had made it clear, would not relinquish power, even when he is finally declared as having lost. The whole episode has implications for US politics, as also for the world, including India.

Nehru with Einstein By Bhaskar Sur* In his lifetime Jawaharlal Nehru was a legend. He was a remarkable personality -- a leader, a scholar, an internationalist who set himself to the task of bringing peace and sanity in a world emerging from the savagery of the Second World War and already caught between the ambitions of two superpowers.