South Asia Citizens Web

In the Name of the Nation thus could not be timelier. In just under two hundred pages, Baruah distills decades of research to offer a powerful overview of the overlapping mechanisms that have made Northeast India “an exceptional example of the shortcomings and failures of the territorially circumscribed post-colonial nation-state” (p. 3). Over six chapters, each rich in individual insights yet echoing one another, Baruah takes on the dynamics of region-building (chapter 1), the vexed issue of citizenship and belonging (chapter 2), the politics of development (chapter 3), the Naga conflict (chapter 4), and the entrenchment of the “security state” (chapters 5 and 6).

India’s current image in most of the mainstream western media is that of an authoritarian state: a state unwilling to tolerate any dissent or criticism of its actions and policies; a state that harasses, persecutes, and imprisons critics who voice opinions or sentiments the government dubs as “sedition” – under a century-old law left over from the British colonial regime.

Human Rights Watch found that Taliban commanders and fighters have engaged in a pattern of threats, intimidation, and violence against members of the media in areas where the Taliban have significant influence, as well as in Kabul. Those making the threats often have an intimate knowledge of a journalist’s work, family, and movements and use this information to either compel them to self-censor, leave their work altogether, or face violent consequences. Provincial and district-level Taliban commanders and fighters also make oral and written threats against journalists beyond the areas they control. Journalists say that the widespread nature of the threats has meant that no media workers feel safe.

Women’s Action Forum is appalled that Turkey’s government has announced its withdrawal from the international Istanbul Convention, an accord designed to prevent, prosecute and eliminate all forms of domestic violence that ironically enough is named after the city in which it was launched 10 years ago: Istanbul, Turkey’s famous city.

More than 2500 people from across the country and world have issued the attached statement against the recent rejection of bail application of 84-year old Stan Swamy and appealed for his immediate bail. They have also appealed for repeal of UAPA, and a return to the norm where bail is the rule not the exception.

The signatories include several noted academics, activists, artists, film-makers, economists, jesuits, journalists, lawyers, retired bureaucrats and writers such as Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, Aloka Kujur, Alpa Shah, Anand Patwardhan, Anuradha Talwar, Apoorvanand, Aruna Roy, Ashish Kothari, Bela Bhatia, Bharat Bhushan Choudhary, Cedric Prakash, Dayamani Barla, Elina Horo, Farah Naqvi, Jayati Ghosh, Jean Dreze, John Dayal, Kavita Srivastava, Lalita Ramdas, Nandita Das, Nikhil Dey, Reetika Khera, Sridhar V, Sushanto Mukherji, Vasavi Kiro, Virginius Xaxa, Wajahat Habibullah, Yogendra Yadav and many more.