South Asia Citizens Web

Economic and Political Weekly
One cannot fight the faith-based politics of Hindu nationalists and the similarly inspired initiatives of the Indian state unless one questions the very foundations of the beliefs and rituals of popular Hinduism itself. One cannot go on "respecting" people’s faith, but then turn around and start questioning them when they actually act upon that faith under the banner of Hindutva.
"New cars smell the same in India as they do in the US", was the first thought (…)

CNN-IBN
Devil’s Advocate: Arundhati on media-police collusion
interviewed by Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN

Tata moves Nano Plant to Gujarat Legitimising Moditva?
Mr Ratan Tata, one of India’s best regarded industrialists, has dismayed many people by deciding to shift the Nano car factory from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand near Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The agitation against land acquisition at Singur, led by Ms Mamata Banerjee, cannot alone explain the choice of Gujarat. For one, the scope to explore alternatives to the existing land acquisition formula wasn’t exhausted. Some interesting (…)

Orissa state government’s appointment of Justice Basudev Panigrahi Commission of Inquiry to look into communal violence of December 2007 and the Justice S.C. Mohapatra Commission of Inquiry into communal violence of august 2008 dont inspire confidence. These commissions are headed by judges not seen as independent and strong willed enough to hold the officers of the state responsible

Economic Times
Noam Chomsky is one of the foremost rights activists. He theorised as to how the US administration creates consent of the broad layers of populati on for its acts of aggression.
The perceptions which were drilled into popular psyche related to the dangers of communism, while attacking the emergent nation state of Vietnam in yesteryears or weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq in recent times.
By the time such propaganda starts getting questioned, the mainstream US (…)