Bihar is blessed with a land more fertile for revolutions than any in India. Why has it fallen so far behind then? Constant obsession with politics is at the root of its destruction.
Ahead of Bihar Assembly elections, locals in Sitabdiara, where the Janata Party leader was born, say politicians keep visiting but no one has done anything to improve their living conditions.
On 3 November 1977, socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan delivered an address to RSS swayamsevaks in Patna, challenging the Sangh to transcend Hindu communalism and embrace a national vision.
As doubts grow about India’s election system being weaponised to facilitate stealing of people’s mandate, it won't be long before ‘civil disobedience’ call reverberates across the country.
An MHA document from 1975 lists the incidents in the run-up to Emergency—from Morarji Desai's demand for dissolution of Gujarat Assembly to student agitation in Bihar and the railway strike.
A look at the events prior to the declaration of the Emergency reveals that it was the anti-Indira agitators, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, who brazenly acted against the Constitution.
In ‘Emergency and Neo-Emergency, MG Devasahayam compares the period of Emergency to now. His interactions with Jayaprakash Narayan heavily inform the book.
On 8 June 1969, Jayaprakash Narayan addressed the National Conference on Voluntary Agencies at the Gandhi Peace Foundation in New Delhi where he said he sympathised with Naxalites because they are 'doing something for the poor'.
The assumption is simple: A Hindu woman’s proximity to a Muslim man is never neutral. It always requires scrutiny, explanation, and, if necessary, punishment.
The year began with two major trade announcements—opening of negotiations for “first tranche” of a bilateral trade agreement with the US following PM Modi’s visit to Washington.
Amidst a doctrinal shift towards joint theaterisation and greater synergy between the various wings of the forces, the Indian Army in 2025 moved further on its path to Vision@2047.
Many of you might think I got something so wrong in National Interest pieces written this year. I might disagree! But some deserve a Mea Culpa. I’d deal with the most recent this week.
One statistic is seared in my mind. Bihar has a per capita income of $ 800. That must make it one of the poorest places on the planet. And this average figure does not account for inequality. 2. In a way, it is good for Bihar that it is NOT the first republic of the world, that it is part of a nation state. It receives from the central tax pool seven rupees for each rupee that it contributes. 3. May whichever formation that comes to power on 14th November make Bihar more about economics than politics.
One statistic is seared in my mind. Bihar has a per capita income of $ 800. That must make it one of the poorest places on the planet. And this average figure does not account for inequality. 2. In a way, it is good for Bihar that it is NOT the first republic of the world, that it is part of a nation state. It receives from the central tax pool seven rupees for each rupee that it contributes. 3. May whichever formation that comes to power on 14th November make Bihar more about economics than politics.