India: the curious case of a new pan-regionalism

Tanmoy Sharma 27 March 2012

India must realize that large republics, with a strong federal structure and the vibrancy of diverse and even conflicting regional and sub regional interests, make for a colourful democracy, a better home for liberty and a safer haven against tyranny.

Democracy and Indian foreign policy

Yogesh Joshi 22 March 2012

To what extent is India’s foreign policy driven by the democracy factor? Yogesh Joshi reviews S.D. Muni’s latest book India’s Foreign Policy: The Democracy Dimension

India is ready for change, but censorship, taxation and corruption plagued the Art Fair

Preti Taneja

The fourth annual India Art Fair (IAF), held earlier this year, was hailed by Indian and international media as proof of an art culture come of age. The private opening was packed with the art-hungry moneyed class from all over the world, not least among them Indian buyers with an eye on potential investments.

Tahrir not twitterati: the future of middle-class movements in India

Siddharthya Swapan Roy 14 March 2012

If it has to actually challenge the powers that be, the anti-corruption movement must move to real grassroots work and not canvass on astroturf

(Fill in the blank) … - Muslim

Ali Khan 14 March 2012

The cynical manipulation of the category of ‘radical-Muslim’ in order to advance a political trajectory and perpetuate unqualified stereotypes is most unfortunate.

Reconciliation is not happening in Sri Lanka, and the problem isn't a question of time

Sivakami Rajamanoharan 12 March 2012

The Tamil call for independent statehood stemmed from a very basic need for security against genocide. For many, including the next generation of Tamil youth activists, the events of 2009 consolidated this need.

India: dynasty, corruption and plunder

Arun G.Mukhopadhyay 11 March 2012

A short history of looting and dynastic power in India

'What Sri Lanka is...': acknowledging the ethnic conflict in post-war reconciliation

Ambika Satkunanathan 9 March 2012

The term 'local reconciliation' may seem benign, but recent research amongst Tamils in the north of the country highlights the damaging silence hanging over the survivors of the conflict, and a determination to reach justice through transparency over past and present wrongs.

Peacebuilding in Kashmir transcends the religious divide

Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra 5 March 2012

The conflict in Kashmir has largely been seen through the prism of religious antagonism. New research on cross-border peacebuilding calls the classic conflict analysis into question.

Trial by media: Bangladesh's 'International' Crimes Tribunal

Aisha Rahman 28 February 2012

Phone tapping, court orders and vitriolic condemnations of the accused point to a disconcerting unity between the regime, the press and the ICT

Secret museums: Anita Desai and the desecrating gaze

James Warner 22 February 2012
In The Artist of Disappearance, Anita Desai meditates on the private and fragile nature of the creative act. Her nostalgic visions of India are also parables of the self's search for authenticity.

Tomsk to Jaipur: India fails to protect freedom of speech

N. Jayaram 28 January 2012
Salman Rushdie's wholly involuntary no-show at the Jaipur Literary Festival, a big event in India's cultural calendar, highlights yet again the country’s failure to uphold freedom of speech as well as the authorities’ cynical readiness to pander to religious fanatics for narrow electoral advantage

Mega dams: campaigning against the plans of the Indian government

Tanmoy Sharma 20 January 2012
In demonstrations barely reported in the media, peasants and students in the Northeastern Indian state of Assam are fighting together against a proposed gargantuan network of dams across the upper reaches of its rivers in Arunachal Pradesh, one of the world’s six most seismically active regions. The movement has gathered impressive momentum against a project that threatens devastating environmental, demographic and socio-economic impact.

Chronicle of a non-violent protest: Jobat, Madhya Pradesh (India)

Alessandra Marino 26 December 2011
For more than three weeks over 130 people have carried out the longest occupation of government-owned land ever registered in Madhya Pradesh (a state in central India).

Has India reached the limits to economic reforms?

Wajahat Qazi 12 December 2011
The government of India’s decision to roll back legislation that would allow FDI in multi-brand retail is ill-advised. However, in the grand scheme of things it is but a hiatus that at worst merely derails the momentum of reforms.
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