Scottish historian Sir William Hunter (1840-1900) wrote in 1871 that “a hundred and seventy years ago (in 1700), it was almost impossible for a well-born Musalman in Bengal to become poor; at present it is almost impossible for him to continue rich.” (Ref: Iftekhar Iqbal, World Congress of Economic History, Helsinki August 2006). If Sir […]
When commentators talk about the ‘magic’ of monarchy, normally they mean its fairy tale resonance and ancient mystique. The more apposite magic is the institution’s ability both to be sufficiently dull and sufficiently interesting. The monarchy’s central contradiction is its reason for survival: it functions both as soap opera and an organ of state. Without […]
In recent weeks, Nandar has taken to cycling. Armed with a hard hat, a face mask, and a paper sign stuck to her bike showing the words “No to dictatorship, no to patriarchy,” the 26-year-old feminist activist spends most days traversing Yangon, Myanmar, as part of the massive protest movement that has erupted following the […]
On the evening of March 3, 2021, while I was thinking of taking a break after a long day of meetings, my Twitter feed started to get flooded with news of a stabbing rampage resulting in injuries to seven people in a small Swedish town called, Vetlanda. Many right-wing social media sites and Twitter handles […]
The Joe Biden administration has been widely criticized for its response after declassifying an intelligence report that found Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible for an operation to “kill or capture” the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged that the administration would not sanction the crown prince directly, despite the […]
Former President Donald Trump was acquitted on 13 February 2021 by the US Senate following an impeachment trial on charges of inciting a deadly riot on 6 January 2021 at the US Capitol. The voting was: guilty 57 and not guilty 43. However, 67 votes, two-thirds majority of the 100-member senate, were needed for conviction. […]
Just when I thought I had witnessed the ultimate in political hypocrisy at the end of Donald Trump’s historic and depressing impeachment trial, Sheikh Hasina – the Prime Minister of Bangladesh – has restored my faith that South Asian politicians can match any politician anywhere on the hypocrisy chart. And surely, on this hypocrisy chart, […]
For a rich and powerful Saudi prince who is used to being the center of attention and fawned over as he sits in his fabulously opulent palaces, it is likely that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s teeth were grinding when he received word last night that he was being “downgraded” by US President Joe Biden. […]
Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old climate activist and the granddaughter of a farmer is the new target, hitting bullseye though is no longer even a formality. Disha has been remanded to police custody for five days over a toolkit linked to Greta Thunberg. That Disha has been booked for sedition for editing a publicly available Google […]
The borders between Delhi and that of two adjoining states, by all accounts, resemble a conflict zone with fencing, barricades, coils of barbed wire, iron spikes cemented to the ground and scores of security personnel manning them. All of it was erected by the government to keep away protesting farmers from the Indian capital. For […]