Adam Smith and David Ricardo had been haunted by the idea of capitalism ending up in a “stationary state”, by which they meant a stable state of zero growth. Marx used the term “simple reproduction” to describe such a state,…
The contours of the economic, political and humanitarian crises that Sri Lanka currently faces are now well known. With limited economic diversification, it has for long been an open economy that has found it difficult to earn the foreign exchange…
Much has been written about the immense increase in economic inequality that has occurred of late and various startling figures have been provided by bodies like Oxfam, which has just come out with a report titled Inequality Kills. This shows…
A crucial component of the imperialist system is the colonisation of third world minds that helps to sustain it. This colonisation is pervasive, but here we shall discuss only academic colonisation and that too relating to the social sciences. Social…
Education in post-independence India was supposed not just to provide knowledge and skills to students, but also to facilitate the process of “nation-building” (to use a clumsy word). Since the concept of an “Indian nation”, although it existed in a…
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is a blot on the nation. In no nation reputed to be civilized is there a law that allows the State to pick up literally anybody and keep the person in jail for years, without…
On March 24, 2020, Narendra Modi had announced that the country would go into a lockdown after four hours! This nation-wide lockdown was to last till the end of May, after which there were local lockdowns but not a general…
One of the few aspects of the Indian development project that is supposed to have seen some recent success is education. Enrolment has increased significantly in school and higher education, and the gender gap in enrolment has reduced up to…
Since the totality of speech consists of both what is said and what is not said, for understanding the new National Education Policy (NEP) we have to look both at its words and its silences. Then we cannot escape the…
by Subho Ranjan Dasgupta Question 1 In one of her recent lecture, eminent Historian Romila Thapar, said that the Indian Republic is teetering on the border line. On one side of the border stands the secular Indian Republic and on…
