1980s was a troubled time in Assam. Those who lived through those years still recall the atmosphere of fear and insecurity. Rifts in the society ran deep along lines of language, religion and ethnicity. Time heals many wounds. Common people,…
The Pathalgadi Movement: An overview
In the heartland of India – the abode of the adivasis and moolvasis – a fire, called the Pathalgadi movement, is spreading rapidly. Started in 2016 with few villagers in Khunti district in the state of Jharkhand, it has now…
BJP Government’s performance on employment generation
The BJP electoral manifesto of 2014 had put employment generation as one of its top priority (just below price rise)– ‘The country has been dragged through 10 years of Jobless Growth by the Congress-led UPA Government. Under the broader economic…
The State of Working India
This article is based on excerpts from the State of Working India (SWI) 2018 brought out by the Centre for Sustainable Employment at Azim Premji University. The full report can be downloaded here.
How justified is the violence of Hindutva and the state ?
There was major police action against Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varvara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on 28 August, 2018. Before this police arrested Professor Shoma Sen, Adocate Sudhir Gadling, Sudhir Dhawle, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson on 6…
What is the way out of the NRC crisis?
More than 40 lakh residents of Assam who applied did not find a place in the draft list of the NRC (National Register of Citizens) released on 30 July, 2018. The actual number of excluded people would be more, since not everyone…
An open letter to Hiren Gohain
[source: Sabrang] Dear Dr Gohain, When a friend forwarded the link to your ‘Open Letter to Indians on NRC in Assam’ published on the Sabrang website on 6 August 2018, I followed it immediately and started reading it with great…
In Assam population share of Bengalis is rising, but what does it mean?
After the NRC draft was released on 30th July it became known that four million people stand to lose their citizenship. Four million is a lot of people, more than the population of many European countries. The very idea of…
Solution to Assam’s foreigners problem
Through the National Register of Citizens update and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party government is trying to communally polarise a state which doesn't have a history of any major communal incidents except for the 1983 Nellie…