Editorial

Assembly Elections: Battleground against BJP

ELECTIONS to the five state assemblies in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa have been notified.  Of these, in two states, Goa and Punjab, there are governments of the BJP and its allies; in Uttarakhand and Manipur, there are Congress governments; but it is in Uttar Pradesh, where there is a Samajwadi Party government that the most significant electoral battle will be fought. In Punjab, the Akali Dal-BJP coalition government is facing a strong anti-incumbency mood with the acute agrarian crisis, rising unemployment, rampant corruption and drug abuse being the hallmarks of t

One Country, One Election: Profoundly Undemocratic

THE BJP national executive which met last week has called Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposal for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislatures "another path breaking initiative". This is hardly surprising considering that the BJP election manifesto had called for simultaneous elections.Modi has put out this proposal as part of a package for electoral reforms. Last September, President Pranab Mukherjee had endorsed the idea.

An Abstract Judgment for Secularism

THE basic concern of the majority verdict of the seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on the appeal of religion in the election process was to uphold secularism  and to assert that religion can have no place in elections and that appeals to voters on the grounds that religion, caste, community or language cannot be allowed.

New Year: Meet the New Challenges

2017 IS beginning on a dismal note for millions of people in India. They have lost their livelihoods and are deprived of their hard-earned wages. Many are unable to access their meager savings which are locked up out of reach in banks. All this pain has been inflicted on them by Narendra Modi’s quixotic demonetisation announced on November 8. With the fifty days for depositing old notes ending on December 30, there are no signs of the travails of the people coming to an end.

Appointments BJP style

THE Modi government is going about making appointments in key positions of the government and the state which are controversial and liable to inflict damage on the institutions concerned. Lt. General Bipin Rawat has been appointed as the chief of Army Staff. The government has selected him by superseding the most senior general, Lt. General Praveen Bakshi.  The next in line in seniority was Lt. General P M Hariz.

Assault on Judicial Independence

THE stand-off between the higher judiciary represented by the Supreme Court and the Modi government has escalated in the past few weeks.  The Supreme Court was informed by the attorney general last month that out of the 77 names proposed by the collegium for appointment as judges in the High Courts, the government had accepted the appointment of 34 judges while 43 names were sent back to the collegium.

Strengthen Resolve to Fight Communal Danger

DECEMBER 6 marks the anniversary of the dark deed of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Thirty four years ago the RSS-Hindutva hordes struck a severe blow at the secular-democratic character of the Indian republic by bringing down the Babri Masjid. By this single act they challenged the constitution and declared their intention to dismantle the democratic and secular framework put in place by the constitution.It is no co-incidence that the Babri Masjid was demolished by the Sangh Parivar on the 6th of December of l992.

Make Railways Safe

THE railway accident involving the Indore-Patna Express at Pukhrayan, near Kanpur, has taken a terrible toll.  146 passengers perished and over 250 were injured, some of them maimed for the rest of their lives.

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