काउंटरव्यू

By Mohan Guruswamy*  There is one advantage that less educated people have over the highly educated. It is that they are more likely to have open minds. But there is always the danger that the open mind can actually be an empty mind. When the RSS' exercise of rewriting history began, Smriti Irani (then HRD minister) requested us not to judge her by her meager education but by her performance. But the RSS has on its agenda to rewrite Indian history and complete the project begun by the astrology believing physics professor from Allahabad University, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi.

By Harsh Thakor  Between the night of June 22nd and the morning of June 23rd inhabitants of the Três Pontes Favela, in the western Rio de Janeiro, rose up in revolt after the killing of a worker during an operation by the Civil Police. The murdered Guilherme Morais (22) was in the process of delivering food when the operation began. The cops used armoured vehicles, helicopters and troops from the Civil and Military Police. 

By Rajiv Shah  Forbes India, an obvious subsidiary of Forbes, one of America's top business magazines, has clubbed India among top 10 largest economies of the world in 2023, with India being the fifth largest. I was a little surprised when I read this. However, as a read through the news story , my apprehensions appeared to be correct.

A civil society petition to Professor Dr. Dev Raj Adhikari, Chair, University Grants Commission, Nepal; and the Chair, Governing Body, South Asian University, New Delhi *** As concerned scholars and academics with deep connections to South Asia, we are taking the liberty of writing to you about the troubling events at the South Asian University (SAU), New Delhi. We urge you to intervene as the Chair of SAU’s highest decision-making body, the Governing Board, to prevent lasting damage to the proud history of SAU as a unique South Asian institution of higher learning.

By Harsh Thakor  Democrats worldwide should in no uncertain terms defend the freedom of Brazilian peasant Luzivaldo de Souza Araújo, 42 years old, and his brother Robélio, 30 years old. They are languishing behind in prison unjustly since 2019, being framed of staging a conspiracy, where the big landlords are in complete control of the region. Peasant Luzivaldo de Souza Araújo and his brother Robélio, were be taken to a jury on June 26, in Campina Verde, Minas Gerais according to information from the Brazilian Association of People's Lawyers Gabriel Pimenta.

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin By Bharat Dogra  Yevgeny Prigozhin may not have succeeded in realizing his ambitions, but his revolt had the unintended impact of focusing worldwide attention on the wider and serious problems involved in increasing dependence in many countries on mercenary fighting forces.

By Harasankar Adhikari  In representative democracy, an election is the most important democratic tool for the selection of representatives from the lower to upper houses. In India, an election is considered as the ‘vote festival’ because of people’s active participation, whether voters are politically aware or not about their democratic rights. It might also be an important question for all. People participate because they want to gain something as per their desires. However, in this democracy, the opposition is the vital pillar of the government because the opposition’s involvement, role, and responsibility also determine the success or failure of a government.

By Prof Sudhanshu Tripathi*  The more than a year-long ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has obviously created tough situations for India many times over. And that had led to cause crucial dilemma for India’s foreign policy, having foundational pillar of non-alignment which is meant for strategic autonomy of the country as regards independent decision making on all international and global issues.

By Mohammad Abdullah  In the midst of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, questions about the rights of Indian Muslims have started to be raised in the US. Many US leaders have raised this question. The former president of the country, Barack Obama, also made a statement in this regard. With Modi's visit, the debate about Muslims and minorities in India started. Several US lawmakers, including Ilhan Omar, boycotted Modi's speech, accusing him of oppressing minorities.

By Harsh Thakor  Srirangam Srinivasarao, popularly known as Sri Sri, or called Mahakavi (The Great Poet), held a reputation like no other Telugu poet. Today, on June 15th, we commemorate his 40th death anniversary. Sri Sri transcended heights in revolutionary creativity or exploration, unparalleled, in Telegu poetry, giving it a new dimension. His poems projected the theme or plight of the oppressed people at a scale, rarely penetrated by poets, giving revolutionary poetry it’s soul.

By Dae-Han Song, Michael McGrath  Seishi Hinada is a National Executive Committee member of ZENKO (National Assembly for Peace and Democracy). ZENKO emerged in 1970 out of the student movement in the 1960s. He joined ZENKO in 1981 as a university student activist in Hiroshima’s anti-nuclear peace movement. The International Strategy Center’s Dae-Han Song and Michael McGrath interviewed Seishi online. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. We began with a brief background on post-World War II Japan, summarized here.

Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, writes to R K Singh, Union Minister for Power, with copy to Vice-Chairperson, NITI Aayog, Union Finance Minister, and the Prime Minister: *** This has reference to the Gazette of 14th June 2023 notifying amendments to Electricity (rights of consumers) Rules 2020, wherein it is mentioned that the Consumers will be asked to pay at least 20% Lower Electricity Tariff During Solar Hours, and 10- 20% Higher Electricity Tariff During non-Solar Hours. This amendment seeking to implement the Time-of-Day (TOD) metering system to optimise the usage of electricity across the country so as to minimise the overall societal level costs, is one of the best decisions to be implemented to improve the overall performance of electricity sector in the country in recent years, and the same was long overdue.

By Rahul Sejwal*  Wildfire risks could be reduced by strengthening Indigenous knowledge in management strategies, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK. Combining traditional knowledge and techniques with modern approaches, Indigenous communities in Bolivia are finding new ways of dealing with increasingly flammable landscapes that threaten their lives and livelihoods.

By Sudhansu R Das  After Mahinder Singh Dhoni, Team India has failed to find a good captain. Dhoni turned defeats into victories on a number of occasions. He had the ability to turn the match with innovations, superb bowling changes and field placement. An avid reader of batsman’s footwork flaws, Dhoni is like a doctor who could give the right medicines to the opponent batsmen after studying their footwork flaws. He was unpredictable in his move; he is more like a spider who can catch the opponents without being noticed. While batting, Dhoni has “fear to none approach.” 

By Harsh Thakor  On 25th June we celebrate the 40th anniversary, of India winning the 1983 Prudential world cup. It was close to sport’s greatest upset or India’s best ever sporting achievement. The ultimate epitome of triumph from regions of adversity. It is hard for words to describe or do justice to the sheer ecstasy or joy amongst Indians at Lords and in India. It gave an effect of new epoch written in Indian cricket or a sporting renaissance.

Statement by the Indian Catholic Press Association, premier Organization of Catholic Journalists, Dailies and Periodicals in India, on the Manipur crisis *** We, the Executive Committee members of the Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA), met in Ahmedabad. In this city, the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi gave to the world his twin doctrine of ahimsa (non-violence) and satyagraha (force of truth). The hallowed ‘Sabarmati Ashram’ and the ‘Dandi Bridge’ from which the Mahatma began the unparalleled ‘Dandi yatra’, challenge us Catholic journalists of India, to respond in a more meaningful way to the unbridled violence, hate and untruth that has gripped Manipur and several other parts of our country today. It is 50 days since violence broke out in Manipur on 3 May. Though the reality is complex, we are deeply pained that precious little is being done to stop the violence. More than one hundred people have been killed, thousands of others have been brutalised, raped and rendered ho

By Shankar Sharma*  A recent development indicating that "Israel will soon require all new non-residential buildings to have rooftop solar panels to help it meet renewable energy targets and the electricity demands of a fast-growing population" should be a hugely relevant lesson for India in its energy transition efforts.

By Harsh Thakor  Israeli attacks continue with full venom on the Palestinian people in the West Bank that began on Monday 19th June. An attack of such a magnitude has not been reported in the West Bank for 20 years . It illustrated Israel escalating it’s ruthless aggression ,in intensity rarely surpassed. Israeli military forces raided a refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Monday, sparking the most intense day of fighting in years as Palestinian militants detonated roadside bombs and Israeli helicopter gunships struck Palestinian gunmen to rescue troops trapped.

By Bharat Dogra  Recently some new threats have been emerging for small scale food processing units in India. To give a recent example, this year new directives have been issued for mandatory six-month lab tests for them which can raise their costs and reduce their viability to a significant extent. Food fortification requirements being pushed relentlessly by the authorities in recent times can also have a very adverse impact on small scale food processing units, apart from their other adverse impacts.

By Rosamma Thomas*  Swiss billionaire Stephen Schmidheiny,73, was sentenced by an Italian court on June 7, 2023, to 12 years in jail for the deaths of 392 people from asbestos exposure. Schmidheiny ran the Eternit Italia factory at Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, the largest of his six factories, where asbestos was used to strengthen cement in the 1970s and 80s. Under Italian law, the owner of the factory rather than the firm is tried for the deaths of workers from a cause that relates to work.

By NS Venkataraman*  In the last nine years, India has been forging ahead in multiple directions and several international credit rating agencies have concluded that India is one of the fast developing economies in the world , in spite of the COVID pandemic crisis which caused recessionary trends all over the world. Some global experts have gone to the extent of predicting that India could emerge as a super power in the next decade, if India were to maintain it’s present tempo of growth in consistent manner.

By Harasankar Adhikari  Is interfaith marriage in India a curse? Many incidents of interfaith marriage witness dangerous victimhood. Various public media (cinema, theatre, TV serials, and so forth) are continuously raising (will continue to raise) their voices against this discrimination. Is it not a biassed campaign? Everybody uses it to criticise Hinduism and its stringent orthodox rules of law.

By Harsh Thakor  The C.P.I. (Maoist) formed in 2004 with merger of the C.P.I. (M.L) Peoples War and the Maoist Communist Centre has demonstrated courage in intensity compared to any great revolutionary struggle in the history of the world. It leads the largest armed movement of a Peoples Guerrilla Army in the world today and proved themselves as the true torch bearers of the Indian Communist movement.

By Shankar Sharma*  Two recent study reports by two elite engineering institutes, as in the links below, throw up more issues than they seem to have addressed. From the overall welfare considerations of our society, it should be a matter of concern that many such studies seem to focus only on one or two narrow issues, that too from only an engineering/ finance perspective, while not providing adequate focus to larger societal welfare issues surrounding the same.

By Sudhansu R Das  If we observe the performance of the young players in the last IPL matches, we could find many talented youngsters who can be picked for the West Indies tour and for the ICC World Cup. The youth should get a chance in their 20s and not in their 30s; some of the players in their 30s should not play just because of their shining past records. In the last IPL matches, some young players have been identified with great potential. They can be included in the West Indies tour where their ability will be tested. The Indian squad should be a mixture of youth and experience.

United Nations statement on the occasion of the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, 18 June *** Hate speech: Turning the tide The devastating effect of hatred is sadly nothing new. However, its scale and impact are amplified today by new technologies of communication, so much so that hate speech, has become one of the most frequent methods for spreading divisive rhetoric and ideologies on a global scale. If left unchecked, hate speech can even harm peace and development, as it lays the ground for conflicts and tensions, wide scale human rights violations. The United Nations has a long history of mobilizing the world against hatred of all kinds to defend human rights and advance the rule of law . The impact of hate speech cuts across numerous UN areas of focus, from protecting human rights and preventing atrocities to sustaining peace, achieving gender equality and supporting children and youth. In response to the alarming trends of growing xenophobia, racism and intolerance

By Bhaskar Sur  Islam, which rose among the desert Bedouins, sought a revolutionary break with the past. Like most revolutions, it wanted to erase the past -- one of continuous tribal feuds, ignorance, animosity and bloodshed and begin with a clean slate to be filled with a glorious narrative. Mohammad, who was formally unlettered, had travelled north -- to Mesopotamia and Syria on business and was exposed to new cultures and influence. His monotheism was certainly influenced by the Jews whose religion was spreading very fast in the Arabian peninsula and would emerge as a main rival to the new religion he was to preach. Mohammad denounced and outright rejected much of the Bedouin tradition as it belonged to the Age of Jahiliyya or one of ignorance.

The National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) on Delhi Police cancelling POCSO case against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh: *** National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) strongly condemns the way Delhi Police filed the application to cancel the POCSO case against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and the manner in whichthey carried out the inquiry for filing a chargesheet against him in the sexual harassment case by the other wrestlers. Two FIRs were filed against the BJP MP, and the then WFI President under POCSO and POSH Acts by the Wrestlers. NFIW also condemns the way the police manhandled and dragged wrestlers and other women who were protesting in a peacefully and legitimately against the delay in getting justice.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  Imperialism has entered a new phase of its expansion to everyday lives of people and the planet. In this new phase of its growth, the grandiose of imperialism permeates everyday lives of individuals living in far off places, including their livelihoods, economic relations, cultural interactions, and social dynamics. The imperial war and conflict in Ukraine are a classic example of everyday imperialism. It has not limited within the territory of Ukraine. Instead, it is affecting everyone in the world. The everyday lives are influenced directly and indirectly by the imperialist expansionist policies pursued by erstwhile western European colonial powers led by USA.

By Ravindra Pandit*  Review of the book “Mantras of Peace”, an interfaith compendium authored by Moin Qazi “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” -- Aristotle The world has seen the rise and fall of several civilizations. What was the root cause of their downfall? Denis Goulet, an American human development theorist, argues that most civilizations perished not on account of external threats but due to internal strife precipitated by the erosion of fundamental human values. Religious scriptures, spiritual gurus, thinkers, and leaders have given us profound wisdom on how to lead a happy and peaceful life. The question is, are we following them to live a righteous life?

By Bharat Dogra  Did we protest when the exotic, narrow genetic-base varieties of various crops displaced thousands of indigenous varieties? Did we protest when many millet crops were being displaced? In both these cases the lack of any sustained opposition by a significant number of people (leaving aside the opposition of a small number of scientists and farmers) proved very costly. Much later, when a lot of damage had already been done, some calls for correcting serious mistakes were made, and it remains to be seen how effective these calls really are in the middle of wider adverse changes that have been unleashed.

By Harasankar Adhikari  Political gathering in political activity is a significant phenomenon in Indian democracy that we regularly experience. We see that a huge crowd congregates whenever a particular political party calls for a particular place and date. The density of the crowd varies sometimes because the party in power obviously claims the highest congregation. Is it due to the political awareness and literacy of people and their paramount interest as well as faith in democracy or the charisma of the leader of the particular party, or the fear of politics involved with this?

By Abhay Kumar*  By deleting lines, paragraphs and chapters from NCERT textbooks and the Delhi University syllabus, the academic institutions working under the Central Government had attempted to peddle the Hindutva narratives. Although the ruling establishment has justified these acts and called them necessary measures to reduce the burden on students, the truth is that they are politically motivated acts. Even a cursory glance at the deleted contents reveals that they have been problematising the communal understanding of politics and history, which the RSS has been long attempting to establish as the only truth.

Interview: Benjamin Abelow  The following is a revised and expanded version of an interview with Benjamin Abelow, author of "How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe". The interview was originally published in Italian translation by the Italian news and commentary site, QuotidianoWeb . *** Question : In your book on the Ukraine war, you say that the United States and NATO provoked the war. How do you understand this word, “provoked”? Abelow : To say that the U.S. and NATO provoked the war could mean two different things. Do I mean that they wanted a war, and that they knew their actions would start one? That is one possible meaning of “provoked.”

Manu's statue in Rajasthan High Court premises By Rajiv Shah  Controversy has broken out around a Gujarat High Court judge asking the father of a pregnant teenage girl to read Manusmriti if he cares to find out when a girl gets pregnant. He said, the ancient treatise approvingly says that a girl can get pregnant at the age of 17, plus or minus a few months. Surely a very odd comment; however, some of the enthusiastic social media people -- mainly Modi haters -- made it an occasion to blame Gujarat for it. Identifying Gujarat with Modi is nothing new among some left-of-centre activists, even academics. Anything bad emanates from Gujarat, they seek to suggest. Often words like "Gujjus" are derogatorily used to criticise Gujarat. These people go so far as to say, this is the impact of eating dhoklas, surely a tasty Gujarati dish. Being a Gujarati myself, I think, such comments are parochial in nature. No doubt, some of the worst post-Independence communal riots took place in

By Sudhansu R Das  They are roaring lions at home. They bat with great fashion and score tons in the Indian conditions. When they play on grass top wickets abroad they turn kittens; they push their legs inside the shells like a panic turtle. Their minds stop working and their courage withers. This has exactly happened to the Indian top order batsmen in the ICC Test Championship Final 2023 against Australia held in the historic Oval cricket ground in London. It is not the pitch, not the fury of fast bowlers and not the climate that defeated India, it’s the lack of plan, courage, footwork, application and lack of temperament that gave team India an embarrassing defeat; a bitter memory which millions of Indian fans will love to forget.

By Harsh Thakor  Abdul Qadir virtually re-defined the art of leg spin bowling, taking artistry or wizardry, to zones not scaled. In full flight, he resembled a magician experimenting or performing tricks. In his running stride he resembled a snake dancer. No spinner more perplexed batsmen, who simply could not read his googly. There were spinners who turned a ball more, had more classical style of flight, but none had such bag of tricks as Qadir. Qadir’s was simply a manifestation of mysticism, with the suspense of an Alfred Hitchcock novel.

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  The Law Commission has given a report to government of India suggesting that anti Sedition law should be further strengthened and penalty must be made more stringent. So penalise people for this 'crime' to life imprisonment. The maximum penalty for Sedition is set at three years at the moment. In the last 10 years, this provision was used mostly against the intellectuals and dissenters of this government who were blamed as 'urban naxals' and 'anti national'. 

Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav write to Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Professor Dinseh Prasad Saklani on Political Science Text Books for classes IX to XII: *** We were Chief Advisors for the NCERT text books of political science prepared and originally published in 2006-07 for classes IX to XII. Through a very enriching and valuable collaboration with colleagues across the country, we were able to put together six textbooks as per NCF 2005. Of late, we have been coming across detailed news reports of the many modifications made to these textbooks. While the modifications have been justified on the grounds of 'rationalization, we fail to see any pedagogic rationale at work here. We find that the text has been mutilated beyond recognition. There are innumerable and irrational cuts and large deletions, often without any attempt to fill the gaps thus created. We were never consulted or even informed of these changes. If NCERT did consult

By Bharat Dogra  India’s huge loss in the ICC World Test Championship match has come as a big disappointment for cricket lovers—not just in India—who were expecting a keen contest. After this match the most honorable course of action for Rohit Sharma would be to resign as India’s Test captain.

By Sudhansu R Das  They are the true sons and daughters of India. They have made India proud by winning Olympic medals. Winning Olympic medals need extraordinary physical strength, mental toughness, strong determination, intelligence, single willed devotion and sacrifice which continue for long years right from childhood days. Indian wrestlers have not only made India proud by winning Olympic medals, they have kept alive India’s ancient wrestling tradition whose origin goes beyond recorded history. Lord Hanuman, Bali, Lord Balaram, Bhim and Jarasandha were the famous wrestlers as per the mythology. 

By Harasankar Adhikari  Here is the story of a girl and a senior. A girl in class V was suddenly asked what politics and corruption are. She anxiously shared that everywhere (in the family and outside), everybody used to gossip and debate on the issue of politics and corruption. Even some of her friends were also in search of the meaning of it (in a playful mood). They also asked her whether she had any knowledge of the same.

By NS Venkataraman*  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Hiroshima , Japan on 20th May,2023 and Mr. Modi has promised that India would do it’s best to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. This is a reassuring statement , since India has good relations with both Ukraine and Russia and is in a position to mediate between both these countries in a just manner.

Lina E. By Harsh Thakor  Recently, the Dresden regional court in Germany sentenced the anti-fascist Lina E. and three others for several alleged militant actions against fascists and for forming a criminal organization. Lina E. was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. The other accused anti-fascists, Lennart A, Jannis R and Jonathan M, received sentences between 27 months and 39 months imprisonment.

Joint Communique from the platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) & Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM): *** The meeting of the Joint platform of Central Trade Unions and Samyukt Kisan Morcha was held on 8th June 2023 in Delhi which expressed its satisfaction of the continued mutual solidarity support to the programmes and actions on the demands of workers and farmers. They reiterated not only to continue the ongoing support to the respective programmes of actions chalked out in the respective platforms but went further in taking decision to plan nationwide joint activities against the anti farmer, anti worker and anti national policies of the Central Govt. They took note of the ongoing struggle of farmers and trade unions in Noida, the struggle of citizens in Varanasi and other places on democratic rights and extended support. They condemned the lathi charge and arrest of farmers in Kurukshetra who were agitating for the demand of Minimum Support Price of their produce. They reiterated the

By Rajiv Shah  A former Gujarat government official recently shared a tweet   by Subramaniam Swamy where a video shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling school children in his hometown Vadnagar that their face would glow if they perspire four times a day. He suggested his face was glowing exactly because of this reason. I have no idea whether facial glow is linked with how many times you perspire in a day, but what I know is, Modi would profusely avoid any perspiration when he was Gujarat chief minister. Thus, in 2006, Modi undertook a fast in support of the Narmada project, which he said the Centre was not supporting. The fast, it was declared, lasted for about 51 hours. I don't recall which month it was, but to avoid perspiration, he got installed air conditions in the open, just next to the spot where he and his colleagues were undertaking fast for the Narmada dam. When some enterprising journalists tried watching the ACs, they were manhandled -- for it would show his fast i

By Harsh Thakor  On the 31st of May Katakam Sudarshan, known as Comrade Anand, breathed his last, at the age of 69. Anand was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoists) and an important leader of the revolutionary movement of India.

Joint  Ambedkar International Mission and Ambedkar Association of North America statement on killing of an Ambedkarite Buddhist youth for celebrating Dr Ambedkar Jayanti (birth anniversary) in his village on 1st June 2023 in Bondhar Haveli village, Nanded, Maharashtra: *** Every single public event hosted by any social or political organization in Maharashtra is not completed without citing Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and yet an Ambedkarite Buddhist youth, Akshay Bhalerao was brutally murdered for celebrating Dr Ambedkar Jayanti in the village Bondhar, Nanded, Maharashtra by dominant caste goons. Caste Atrocities are common in such villages where the Scheduled Castes and Buddhists are daily humiliated, mocked, or abused with caste slurs and women subjected to sexual violence. 

By Harasankar Adhikari  'Marxism has a future because humankind has no future without it.' It is experimentally and evidently true. This social and economic theory tells us to empower the struggling classes of every society. It also guides them to rescue them from the exploitation of the so-called capitalists. These struggling classes are always the vital section of every civilised society, to whom every civilization is owed. Democracy always strengthens the power of the deprived for their equity and justice. When a democratic government does not follow the principles of Marxism, it is never a people’s government. The policy for the welfare of the struggling classes is only for vote gaining purposes, and it does not work for equal rights for the deprived section of society.

CEF Group to commence its waste processing project in Srinagar, Kashmir from August 2023: A note: *** Leading clean energy provider CEF Group leaps forward in the green energy revolution and announces conversion of 70,000 tons of lake waste, like weeds, and lilies from Dal Lake, Jammu & Kashmir, into organic manure and allied products. The conversion process will kick-start in August 2023 at the waste processing plant of CEF Group, where Dal Lake waste will be treated and processed in the CEF plant being set up in Srinagar to produce more than 20 thousand tons of organic manure.