South Asia Citizens Web

Cameras in classroom is the wrong answer. We lose all chances of reform if we isolate and pillory the teacher

This slim memoir spanning a few months in 1971 is noteworthy for its insider view on the failed first insurrection of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP—Peoples Liberation Front), or more exactly its repression somewhere remote from Colombo and the southwest, by a principal participant. The author was then Government Agent, that is the top-most administrative official, in undivided Vavuniya

Gandhi recognised that it was not always possible for historians to rise above their national or cultural biases. His remarks seem extremely relevant today, when BJP governments at the Centre and in the states seem determined to wipe out all traces of Muslim and British influence on India

Conversation on CNN-News18 TV programme Off Centre with Usha Ramanathan