Reflections on the resurgence of Naxalism

The Naxalite movement has seen a dramatic resurgence in popularity, particularly in the rural parts of India, as the economic reforms of the 1990s left parts of India by the wayside. The Indian federal goverment has two options, both weak.

Public against Democracy: the case of the Gujarat Pogrom 2002

The pogrom was not only publicly visible for the local population – as had always been the case with earlier instances of anti-minority violence – but for everybody who could find a screen to watch it on throughout India.

'Ascending' nationalism: the failure of politics and climbing Everest in Bangladesh

In the past two years, four young Bangladeshi, including two women, scaled Mount Everest, becoming national heroes. More importantly, these individuals also became powerful political symbols, used on various sides, to disguise the failure of politics in Bangladesh.

Eliminating the middle man: the Indian government’s contempt for civil society

In India, the concept of civil society is only a nascent one, but the authorities already view it with suspicion. Behind the 'biggest democracy in the world' façade, the lives of activists, journalists and academics who dare to challenge official policies are made increasingly difficult. The future of India's emerging civil society is uncertain.

Making sense of the riots in Assam, India

The recent riots in the northeastern state of Assam between Bodo tribespeople and ethnic Bengali Muslims are creating a dangerous situation for the central government of India. There might be various solutions to this recurring conflict in Assam, but we must understand that at heart this is not a Hindu-Muslim conflict.

Independence in Dependence

As India celebrates its 66th year of independence, the country's leaders are still largely ignoring what needs to be addressed, and the government has come to be referred to as a 'consortium of the corrupt', with two parallel power centres

Powerless power in the age of nuclear renaissance

The great Indian electricity grid failure hailed as the worst blackout in history, has brought several issues to light, which could have and should have been confronted earlier. 

Misleading rhetoric post-violence in Assam

The dual threat of losing a homeland and losing all track of the original inhabitants removes all objective considerations from the debate in one fell swoop

India's COIN approach and left-wing extremism

The Maoist insurgency once described as the single greatest threat to the Indian state has lowered in intensity. But the success of the government's COIN approach may not deliver a peace, but an entrenchment of the cycle between stalemate and further violence.

The fifth pillar of Indian democracy: channeling people power against corruption

The name 5th Pillar represents the organization’s central idea; that people have the power to change the fundamental conditions that corruption depends on for its existence

Time to fix the Indian male

Across the country, men worship women as goddesses and abuse them with no regard for their rights or respect.

Remembering July 1983: 'The holocaust started for me with the death of my father'

Amongst memories of the cataclysmic violence that spread across Sri Lanka and which still marks this time of year as Black July, instances of incredible individual bravery and compassion stand out. But can the government match the honour of its people?

Expensive policies to acquire poor people’s land

Given the increasing polarisation and violence associated with the acquisition and rehabilitation of land in India and inadequate central legislation, a state policy is urgently needed that lays out a framework of principles to protect the people

The philosophy of empowerment

JADS, an organisation active in defending its members‘ interests in rural districts of Madhya Pradesh, is facing a series of trumped-up police charges. The UK minister for international development has little to say while DFID’s political and economic agenda is so in tune with the Government of India’s embrace of corporate investment.

The thinning world: Mali, Nigeria, India

Many powerful states tend to view current global conflicts through the lens of Islamism, and to put military action at the heart of the response. But the deeper roots and character of these conflicts are to be found in poverty and marginalisation, not ideology.

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