Categories for Articles
From Crisis to Opportunity
Friday January 12, 2018
An article on violence in Bodoland by our colleague Jamal Kidwai in Telegraph To stop the cycle of violence in Bodoland, old issues must be addressed, The widespread violence in Bodoland that began more than 10 days ago has, until now, left more than 50 people dead and created a massive displacement of over 2.5… View Article
Politics of faith
Friday January 12, 2018
Review of Saba Naqvi book In Good Faith, Telegraph, Feb 2013 Liminal or shared religious traditions in India are often celebrated as those cultural practices that have been subversive of religious orthodoxy and politics. Senior political journalist Saba Naqvi, in her book, In Good Faith, reinforces this argument by extensively documenting more than thirty such… View Article
Desperate posturing
Friday January 12, 2018
The acrimonious spat between the JD(U) and the BJP over Narendra Modi’s candidature for prime-ministership is just a symptom of a far deeper political crisis that the JD(U) is facing. Being a seasoned politician, Nitish Kumar is well aware of the fact that amongst all the major political parties in Bihar, the JD(U) stands to… View Article
A History Lesson
Friday January 12, 2018
The death of Khalid Mujahid in police custody, and communal clashes in UP, underscore the urgent need for Akhilesh Yadav-led SP to halt the growing alienation and anger amongst Muslims. May 23, 2013, outlookindia.com The death of Khalid Mujahid in the custody of Uttar Pradesh police has once again reinforced the perception that the Akhilesh… View Article
Look Within
Friday January 12, 2018
The real challenge is not external. The Indian state and the J&K government would do well to first acknowledge the mistakes committed in the past and engaging with the people of Kashmir to find a way forward. There have been five attacks by militants in the Kashmir valley since February, killing at least 23 security… View Article
Sexual Violence and Mental Health:Confronting the Paradox of the “Guilty Victim”
Friday January 12, 2018
A central paradox that characterizes a woman subject to sexual violence in many cultures, including India, is that of the “guilty victim”, both with society declaring her guilty of a moral flaw, and with the woman herself feeling guilty of complicity or even provocation. The mechanisms of both, this external imposition of guilt, and the… View Article
The Futility of Common Sense: An Essay on Ahimsa
Friday January 12, 2018
Upon hearing that I was to be the advisor for a documentary film on non-violence, one of my respected erstwhile teachers remarked that it was “the richest irony”. He had good cause to say so. In my student days I was convinced that the only way any real social and political change could be brought… View Article
The Twenty – First Century: The End of History or the Beginning of Transformation?
Friday January 12, 2018
1. Introduction The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War are events of great magnitude. Because we are living through them, many of us do not appreciate fully the significance of what has happened – but as the new century unfolds it will become clearer. For certain liberal intellectuals these… View Article
A Finer Balance: An Essay on the Possibility of Reconciliation
Friday January 12, 2018
Introduction I begin this address by a simple reflection on the key words in the title of this symposium – truth, justice, reconciliation. They mean a great deal to me intellectually and emotionally, and they are always accompanied by a question mark – is there any such thing as truth, will there ever be a… View Article
The Enemy System
Friday January 12, 2018
He (Pontius Pilate) took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying ‘I am innocent of the blood of this man, see to it yourselves.. And all the people answered, ‘ His blood be on us and on our children’! “(Bible, Mathew’s Gospel) “No law in the world punishes a son for the crime… View Article