The attempts to disparate the state governments’ expenditure on subsidies by the votaries of the neo-liberal fiscal regime, do not stand the scrutiny of facts and reason. The use of terms like “freebies” and “revadi culture” is an assault by the state-capital nexus on the lives of millions of working people, by keeping them vulnerable in order to discipline them, as an integral part of the neo-liberal agenda.
The field trials of genetically modified mustard allowed by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee and subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court pending scientific examination of information brings forth the debate about the role of modern technologies in addressing the pressing challenges of
Stepping into the Elite: Trajectories of Social Achievement in India, France, and the United States by Jules Naudet (Translated from French by Renuka George), New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018; pp xxi + 354, ₹995.
Outmigration from Bihar in search of livelihood has been normalised over several decades, with Bihar being one of the topmost states of origin for the migrants. Unemployment rate in Bihar remains higher than the country average. Agriculture has become unviable over the years due to low yields, increasing landlessness and lack of financial support by the state. The return migration to the state in the wake of COVID-19 necessitates that the state generate farm and non-farm employment to address the crisis situation.
Bihar’s public healthcare system is not equipped to deal with the challenge of COVID-19. The density of testing centres is the worst for Bihar in the country, with one testing centre for a population of 110 million. Besides, it lacks in both infrastructure and human resources in the health arena and, thus, is unprepared to deal with and properly respond to the health crisis.
Over the past one month, the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, with the JNU Teachers’ Association standing in solidarity, have built a mass movement against the proposed hike in hostel charges, as they realise that what is at stake essentially is the very idea of public-funded higher education.
The addition of chillies to spice up a cuisine often brings on more than fond culinary memories—tears, sweat and scalded tongues are delicious spin-offs.
Escape from civilisation may be an option for characters in films like Highway but lesser mortals will have to confront their own demons right here and now.
The work of three Hindi writers who all died in late 2013 - Vijaydan Detha, Rajendra Yadav and Omprakash Valmiki - was distinct and yet overlapped with each other. It reflected the larger and continuing churn in the world of Hindi writing. Their writings are proof of the amorphous nature of the Hindi written world that allows confl icting worlds to cohabit together.
