Arctic Fires

Arctic Fires

  Here’s a sentence for you: The Arctic is burning. Yes, that Arctic—the traditionally cold and wet one, large swaths of which are being consumed by an astonishing number of wildfires, from Russia to Greenland to Alaska. “Arctic fires—the combination of these two words is still an unusual term in my field of fire science,”…

Some Suggestions for Promoting Communal Harmony

Some Suggestions for Promoting Communal Harmony

Letter to Editor   Communal harmony is of paramount component for the social, economic and cultural development of any country. If only the followers of different religions had the vision of Swami Vivekananda who had proclaimed: “Different religions are like the streams which lead to the same ocean”! If all people developed a deeper understanding…

Let us Not Lose Hope in Bad Times
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Let us Not Lose Hope in Bad Times

From the Editor’s desk . . .   The Modi juggernaut is marching ahead, wantonly riding roughshod over the Constitution. It is even crushing under it the fundamental pillars of our Constitution—democracy, equality, secularism and fraternity. The federal structure of our country is being demolished. The independence of our most important institutions that can act…

Global Commodity Chains and the New Imperialism

Global Commodity Chains and the New Imperialism

  Twenty-first-century capitalist production can no longer be understood as a mere aggregation of national economies, to be analysed simply in terms of the gross national products (GDPs) of the separate economies and the trade and capital exchanges occurring between them. Rather, it is increasingly organised in global commodity chains (also known as global supply…

The Terrible Truth of Climate Change

The Terrible Truth of Climate Change

In June, I delivered a keynote presentation on Australia’s vulnerability to climate change and our policy challenges at the annual meeting of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the main conference for those working in the climate science community. I saw it as an opportunity to summarise the post-election political and scientific reality we now…

What Article 35A Implies

What Article 35A Implies

A.G. Noorani   The Sangh Parivar’s chauvisim and ignorance feed on each other. Nowhere is this more evident than on the distinct identity of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The State’s autonomy was guaranteed by Article 370 of the Constitution. Its people’s ancient rights are guaranteed by Article 35A.   We discuss Article 35A…

Genesis of Article 370 of the Constitution

Genesis of Article 370 of the Constitution

  (This article has been extracted by us from two articles: Jai Shankar Agarwala, “Article 370 of the Constitution: A Genesis”, Economic and Political Weekly, April 18, 2015; and “A.G. Noorani, “Article 370: Law and Politics”, Frontline, September 16-29, 2000.)   The princely states comprised almost half of the Indian territories in the subcontinent at…