MANIK BANDYOPADHYAY’S ‘A SPECIMEN’—TRANSLATED BY PRITHA BANERJEE

Manik Bandopadhyay (1908-1956) This short story by Manik Bandyopadhyay is set during the time of the 1943 famine in Bengal. It was a time of abject poverty, destitution, and breakdown of the moral economy of the society. The lack of rice and other staples compelled a father to sell off his daughter to an unknown … Continue reading MANIK BANDYOPADHYAY’S ‘A SPECIMEN’—TRANSLATED BY PRITHA BANERJEE →

Looking at Hindutva Through The Visual Medium of Memes—Supratik Sinha

Hindutva as an ideological force has gained prominence and visibility after 2014 with the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the Centre. Christophe Jaffrelot, in his book Hindu Nationalism: A Reader, comments that Hindu Nationalism emerged from the “superimposition of a religion, a culture, a language, and a sacred territory-the perfect recipe for … Continue reading Looking at Hindutva Through The Visual Medium of Memes—Supratik Sinha →

Of Gains and Divides: Stock Markets and Persisting Paradoxes—Ritabrata Chakraborty

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 →