इतिहास
November 2, 2016
Condemning the state’s role in the pandemonium created in Kashmir post the killing of Hizbul Mujahidin commander Burhan Wani, several activists, academicians, journalists and filmmakers call for an end to the violence in the Valley.
In a statement endorsed by 172 individuals and 14 organisations, attention has been called to the several issues including the gagging of media, mangling...
November 1, 2016
Three African states have pulled out of the ICC with other departures in the works, putting ICC legitimacy in crisis. A contribution to the openGlobalRights debate on the International Criminal Court.
President Jacob Zuma speaks to South Africa's parliament in Cape Town. Image credit: Flickr/GovernmentZA
The news that three African states—Burundi, South Africa and...
October 31, 2016
Sardar Patel and Indian Muslims
October 31, 2016 is the 141st Birth Anniversary of the Iron Man, India’s first home minister, Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
In 1996, scholar and politician, Rafiq Zakaria delivered the Sardar Patel Memorial lecture titled “Sardar Patel and Indian Muslims.” (They were divided in two parts: the first, dealing with the Sardar’s...
October 29, 2016
The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) had its baptism by fire on June 29, 2016 when it was subjected to the likes of Amit Shah, president of the ruling BJP and close associate of Prime Minister Modi, spouting venom at the memory of Jawaharlal Nehru - India’s first Prime Minister, a prominent freedom fighter, and advocate of secularism, rationality and scientific temper as foremost...
October 28, 2016
While Myanmar prepares for internationally backed national election next both, a new study has claimed that Rohingya Muslim community is facing state-sponsored genocide. While on one hand, US’ decision to rollback economic sanctions brings good news to the country; on the other hand, more than a million Burmese people are on the verge of being completely exterminated, according to a TIME...
October 24, 2016
Some Summations from India’s Partition Story
My engagement with partition and separatism is largely confined, I must confess, to South Asia, where I have studied the India/Pakistan question, the break-up of Pakistan into two, and the Sinhala/Tamil issue in Sri Lanka.
In my research I have focused also on India’s freedom movement, the movement for Pakistan, and the...
Ahead of US poll, Hindu American group sends booklet on Hinduism to candidates – and a questionnaire
October 21, 2016
The advocacy group wants to help voters make an 'informed choice' in the November 8 US elections, it said.
What is the red dot that many Hindu women wear on their forehead? Do Hindus have Commandments? What is the meaning of the swastika?
The answer to these and other such queries are part of the booklet titled More Answers to Real Questions about Hinduism, educational material...
October 17, 2016
आज से 97 वर्ष पहले ब्रिटिश सरकार ने भारत में खूंरेजी का जो खेल खेला था, वह इतिहास में जालियावालां बाग नरसंहार के नाम से कुख्यात है। 13 अप्रैल, 1919 को इस सरकार के क्रूर पुलिस अफसर ने अमृतसर के जालियांवाला बाग में योजना बना कर 2000 बेकसूर हिंदू, सिख और मुस्लिमों को गोलियों से भून डाला। आधकारिक आंकड़ों के मुताबिक उस दिन ब्रिटिश सरकार के अफसर जनरल डायर के नेतृत्व में चली गोलियों से 1,526 लोग मौत के...
October 17, 2016
There’s been a great deal of excitement over Bob Dylan winning the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. It’s rare for artists who have achieved widespread, mainstream popularity to win. And although Nobels often go to Americans, the last literature prize to go to one was Toni Morrison in 1993. Furthermore, according to The New York Times, “It is the first time the honor has gone to...
October 14, 2016
On this day 60 years ago, Dr BR Ambedkar, polymath – scholar, the principal architect of India's Constitution, and Independent India's first law minister – converted to Buddhism, having declared in 1935 that it was his misfortune to be a born an "Untouchable Hindu" but he will not die as one. This was the beginning of a social revolution – on the...