View Articles

BHOPAL: Suicide has become a grave social and mental health crisis in India. The highest numbers of suicide cases are reported from states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka. The suicide rate is particularly higher in the southern states, while it is also becoming a growing concern in some northeastern states. Madhya Pradesh ranks third in the country in terms of the number of deaths due to suicide. The causes of suicide are multilayered, sectional and complex.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s declaration that India could be the first to finalise a trade deal with the United States after President Trump embarked on his reckless trade war against the world signals a strategic point. The proposed agreement offers India an escape hatch from the looming 26 percent reciprocal tariffs that, though currently suspended until July, represent the shadow of Trump’s trade belligerence. In essence, the development may well be India’s best opportunity to engage in tough, calculated bargaining with the United States. This is not just about sidestepping punitive measures; it is about reshaping the economic partnership with Washington on terms that serve India’s long-term interests.

The recent trenchant villification of the Supreme Court and the judiciary by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey is in reality an attack against the Constitution and its fundamental principles and values. When the Vice President and Mr. Dubey reject judicial review of the actions of the highest authorities — of the President and of Parliament — they are, in effect, asking for the restoration of the pre-Constitutional principle that the “king can do no wrong”. By rejecting the Supreme Court’s protection of the constitutional rights of backward classes, minorities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women against exploitation, dehumanisation and oppression as “triggering civil war”, they are, in effect, lauding the perpetuation of exploitation, dehumanisation and oppression as “social peace”.

Three days have passed since the savage terrorist attack at Pahalgam resulting in the death of 26 people, mostly tourists. The communal tenor of the massacre shocked the Indian people. There was unequivocal demand from the people supported by all sections of the political parties that the Narendra Modi government must take strong action against the backers of the terror gang Pakistan. India announced the retaliatory actions against Pakistan including the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty. Pakistan followed this on Thursday by announcing that if India implements it, it will be considered as an act of war. Further, Pakistan threatened suspension of Simla Agreement.

Barack Obama once said “you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” The other day an ex-Pentagon official hit out at terror-sponsor Pakistan and likened Pakistan to a pig, alluding that no amount of lipstick will make a difference to Pakistan's image!

In 2024, as in previous years, communal violence has persisted in the form of structural violence, embedded within the legal and institutional framework of the state. Structural violence, as conceptualized by Johan Galtung, refers to systematic inequalities and injustices that are institutionalized within legal, political, and social structures, thereby disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. In this context, discriminatory legislation, selective implementation of existing laws, and state directives have played a crucial role in perpetuating structural violence.

BHOPAL: How democracy can be subverted is the finding of a survey conducted by a leading news paper of the state. The survey revealed that vested interest, who described as "Dabang" are controlled many panchayat without contesting election. This Dabang pays a fixed sum to the sarpanch and panch and obtain all powers to run the panchayats. This is widespread position in the reserved panchayats. They include such "Dabang" who finance election of sarpanch and after election they obtain total control of the panchayat.

BJP leaders and the Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, have launched vicious attacks on the Supreme Court. These attacks have come in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment on the Tamil Nadu Governor’s unconstitutional role in withholding bills passed by the state legislature and subsequently the CJI-headed bench giving an interim order on the Waqf Amendment Act.

From asserting “all is well” on the floor of Lok Sabha only on March 7, the Modi government has had to order “keeping in abeyance the Indus Water Treaty of 1960”, declare the defence advisers in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi as persona non grata and close integrated check post at Wagah-Attari border on April 23, after Pahalgam, often dubbed the Switzerland of Kashmir, witnessed the gruesome massacre of 28 innocent tourists on April 22.

One of the greatest tragedies of South Asia has been the emergence of ‘Two Nation Theory’, which opposed the Anti Colonial Indian National movement. It was a great help to British colonialists to rule over this vast land. It led to the formation of Pakistan on the basis of Muslim majority (Islam) and the remaining part, India as a secular state with a large Muslim population. These Muslims, who by force of circumstances or by choice chose to stay here in India. It also led to large migrations of Hindus from Pakistan to India and many Muslims to Pakistan, the suffering was horrific.