OPINION

Inner Party Democracy is Just as Important as Funding

MOHAN GURUSWAMY

A former Chief Election Commissioner, TS Krishnamurthy, recently plugged for state financing of political parties. This uncooked suggestion is fraught with huge consequences to the nation and its polity, and is nothing more than a DBT to political clans and little fuehrers. We now have no political parties in the constitutional conception of them. What we have are mostly warring and then coalescing factions led by known families and shadowy cabals. What has made this system solid and lost

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ARTICLE

On 'Correcting' History and Akbar's Invasion of Kashmir

A.G. Noorani

"HISTORY is the most dangerous product evolved from the chemistry of the intellect. Its properties are well known. It causes dreams, it intoxicates whole people, gives them false memories, quickens their reflexes, keeps their old wounds open, torments them in their repose, leads them into delusions, either of grandeur or persecution, and makes nations bitter, arrogant, insufferable and vain," Paul Valery wrote.

The danger is far greater when the state has a hand in the writing of histor

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ARTICLE

An Interreligious Conference to Build Bridges in Sri Lanka

Jehan Perera

It was past 11 pm when the conference at a community hall in Kattankudy ended. The last three speakers were restricted to two minutes each, much to their discomfiture, as some of them had traveled as far as from Colombo and Matara to be present. One of them had even prepared a forty minute presentation which had to be whittled down to enable the conference to end before the witching hour of midnight. According to the local organisers the conference was the first ever inter-rel

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OPINION

Gandhian Philosophy is a Critique of Modernity and Power

Ajay Gudavarthy

While the 150th anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's birth are on, it is imperative to assess his legacy is being remembered. The core aspect of Gandhian philosophy is a critique of modernity and power. In a similar historical period (the 20th Century) the French philosopher Michael Foucault also invested in a critique of modernity and power. Both recognised the regulatory and disciplining aspects of the modern state and market/capital. Both looked at practices of the self in order to r

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JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

Our Constitution has taken up the charge of transforming a hierarchical society into a modern equalitarian democracy. In a Parliamentary democracy based on a written Constitution, it is the role of the Judiciary (predominantly the Supreme Court) to interpret it. The court itself has supposed the role of the guardian and interpreter of the Constitution of India. For the purpose of interpretation, the independence of the Judiciary from any external source, including the political executive needs t...

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Issue in foreign Policy

Are America's International Commitments trustworthy?

Nayan Anand

Since the inception of his term as the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has been a favourite of the media. Be his kooky Tweets that take the internet by storm or his determined approach towards putting America first, Trump sure knows how to catch the eyeballs of both world leaders and the public alike. In the past few months, Trump went a step ahead to shake the world by his strong messages of 'America First' policy. In the same regard, the global power landscape saw ...

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Gender

Right to Freedom of Choice, Right to Abortion: Ireland's new Abortion Referendum

Nayan Anand

Introduction

The recent time can be attributed to both progress and protests alike. Caught up in the progressive third wave of feminism, there are women all over the world now coming out on the streets to fight and demand basic rights that have been denied to them. Be it the abrogation of the infamous Triple Talaq rule or the dynamic demand for changes in the abortion laws of Ireland, positive changes in the gender scenario are now foreseeable. Speaking about one such vic...

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Gender

A Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013: An Asse

Nayan Anand

The law protecting women against sexual harassment at workplace came out as a legislative act after the approval of the President on April 23, 2013. Deriving its essence from the 'Vishaka Guidelines' issued in 1997 by the Supreme Court in the Vishaka vs State of Rajasthan case, the Act promulgates mechanism for employers to handle cases of sexual harassment at workplaces by explicitly stating protocols to be followed during and after the course of s...

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