South Asia Citizens Web

CAG has learned that the office of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has issued a "Cease and Desist" order to Mr. Shalabh ’Shalli’ Kumar and NIAPPI, who are organizers of the event outside Capitol Hill, where Modi is expected to appear via satellite video on November 19, 2013. The "Cease and Desist" Notice seeks immediate cessation of all activities to promote the Modi broadcast in the name of Congresswoman Rodgers and the House Republican Conference. Even as the office of Rep. Rodgers issued the "Cease and Desist", other Republicans namely Congressman Sessions moved swiftly to put a distance between themselves and the Modi broadcast.

Nobel prize-winning Indian philosopher and economist Amartya Sen discusses his new book, An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions. He argues that there is a real need for rethinking development priorities in India

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot’s prison letters to Slavoj Žižek
Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is currently in a prison hospital in Siberia; here she and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek meet in an extraordinary exchange of letters

The Indian government is engaged in discussions with the Japanese government aimed at concluding a bilateral nuclear cooperation pact; this would allow India to import nuclear reactor parts from Japan. The primary argument given for India’s plans to expand nuclear power is that the country already suffers electricity shortages and its electricity demand is fast growing.

The release of tape recorded conversations between top Narendra Modi aide and BJP leader Amit Shah and a senior police officer who was then Superintendent of the Gujarat anti-terrorist squad regarding the illegal surveillance mounted against a young woman on the orders of “saheb” raises serious questions once again about the state of civil liberties in Gujarat.