Picture Courtesy: Mint If one has even casually followed the news stream over the last few years, a running theme concerning the economy has been consistent. It is the stock markets having a strong run (‘bullish’ in finance parlance), with abundant capital flowing in, while economies worldwide have been battling runaway inflation and tepid growth … Continue reading Of Gains and Divides: Stock Markets and Persisting Paradoxes—Ritabrata Chakraborty
The Myth of Belonging: How to Create a Nation—Hira
Untitled (2005), M.F. Husain [Courtesy: Learning Journal] Amidst the chaos and uncertainty in the academic year of 2021-22, as students and teachers alike learnt to grapple with the online mode of teaching, NCERT used the time to quietly edit the contents of its History and Political Science textbooks from classes 6 to 12. Official communication … Continue reading The Myth of Belonging: How to Create a Nation—Hira
Article 370: Calculated Killing or Inevitable Demise?—Adrija Ghosh
Courtesy: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP The piece examines and explains the legal aspects surrounding the abrogation of Article 370 and the simultaneous wholesale application of the Constitution of India vis a vis Jammu and Kashmir. It teases out the rationale put forth by the Supreme Court in upholding the Centre’s actions, the knotty issues about the President’s … Continue reading Article 370: Calculated Killing or Inevitable Demise?—Adrija Ghosh
Other Futures are Always Possible: Tegart’s Long Shadow over Palestine—Suchintan Das
A Tegart Fort in Palestine (Image courtesy: http://quaderns.coac.net/en/2015/03/tegart-forts/) Imagine for a moment that you are not able to use future tense in speech. You will not be able to plan a vacation, consider your children’s education, or for that matter, think actively about retirement. Your life will be restricted to an immediate and unending present, where … Continue reading Other Futures are Always Possible: Tegart’s Long Shadow over Palestine—Suchintan Das
Neoliberalism and the Politics of Mental Health—Yanis Iqbal
Illustration courtesy: Olivia Newland In its neoliberal phase, capitalism no longer exists as a historical force with capabilities to play a progressive role. On the contrary, it keeps nakedly “asserting its power all the way to the historical limit of its viability”, as Istvan Meszaros puts it. Breaching these limits, neoliberalism, becomes a ‘counter-historical’ force. … Continue reading Neoliberalism and the Politics of Mental Health—Yanis Iqbal
From the Vaults of a Communist Party Newspaper Archive: Writing the Unwritten—Rajarshi Adhikary
Tattered copies of Swadhinota, the mouthpiece of the undivided Communist Party of India Since the first printed newspapers appeared in Germany in the early 17th century, brutal repressive regimes of state censorship were up in arms to suppress them. During the tumultuous decades of the English Revolution, the radical press thrived but was nonetheless undermined … Continue reading From the Vaults of a Communist Party Newspaper Archive: Writing the Unwritten—Rajarshi Adhikary
Misdiagnosing Climate Change: Exploring the Interplay of Overpopulation and Overconsumption—Shashi Singh
A popular poster depicting a stark contrast between big and small families. A big family is mired in poverty and strife; a small family, on the other hand, is happy and content. It depicts the (natural and material) plentitude that comes with a small family. [Source: Pinterest] Last year, in the month of July, the … Continue reading Misdiagnosing Climate Change: Exploring the Interplay of Overpopulation and Overconsumption—Shashi Singh
In Defence of Not Knowing—Ananyo Chakraborty
Auguste Rodin's The Thinker [Image Courtesy: Britannica.com] It is our knowledge — the things we are sure of — that makes the world go wrong and keeps us from seeing and learning. Lincoln Steffens It was as if a splinter had hit me straight from my phone screen. It baffled me, and shook me to … Continue reading In Defence of Not Knowing—Ananyo Chakraborty
Syed Mustafa Siraj’s ‘Bharat Varsha’—Translated by Saukarya Samad
Syed Mustafa Siraj (1930-2012) One of the last sentinels from the golden era of Bengali literature, Syed Mustafa Siraj wrote effortlessly for both children and adults. His sheer versatility enabled him to craft riveting novels like ‘Neel Ghorer Nati’ and conjure the evergreen ornithologist-cum-investigator Colonel Niladri Sarkar. Renowned for his nuanced social commentary and vivid … Continue reading Syed Mustafa Siraj’s ‘Bharat Varsha’—Translated by Saukarya Samad
On the Lokayata Blog: A Round-Table
'At the Night Meeting'---Woodcut by Somnath Hore (1955) [Courtesy: MutualArt] On the 4th of June, the members of the Study Circle met to consider the possibility of doing something special to mark the milestone of having the 50th post up on the Lokayata blog, come July. It was unanimously agreed to obtain our own domain … Continue reading On the Lokayata Blog: A Round-Table
Lokayata 