South Asia Citizens Web

History, they say, is always written by the winners. But could this be by even winners of elections? So it would seem from the workings of India’s premier institute of historical research and funding, the Indian Council of Historical Research, which sees a reshuffle of people and priorities every time there is a regime-change in New Delhi. Senior historian and former Chairman of the ICHR, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, who recently resigned as the Chief Editor of Indian Historical Review , the ICHR journal, has delivered a sharp indictment of the competencies within the ICHR in its present avatar after a new family of historians was appointed by the present government.

A booklet in Hindi written by Subhas Gatade for the Institute for Social Democracy, Delhi

The move by the central government to freeze Greenpeace India’s bank accounts and block sources of funds, is a blatant violation of the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and association. It also seems to be an attempt to warn civil society that dissent regarding development policies and priorities will not be tolerated, even when these are proving to be ecologically unsustainable and socially unjust. These are dangerous signs for the future of democracy in India.

There is surprisingly little work by historians on Jawaharlal Nehru’s relations with India’s labour movements. This historical survey of his positions, actions and relations vis-à-vis working class politics identifies a clear break in 1947; the earlier Nehru was far more actively engaged with labour issues than the Prime Minister Nehru. The article ends by suggesting possible ways to understand Nehru’s engagement with working class issues both before and after independence.

We, communicators and activists committed to multiple emancipatory communication practices across different regions of the world, freely assembled in March 2015 in Tunis, on the occasion of the 4th World Forum on Free Media, organized in the framework of the World Social Forum 2015. Adopt this World Charter of Free Media, as the result of our collective reflection initiated in 2013 . . .