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Editorial

India’s Freedom is not for Sale THE aam admi, the common man about whom neither Sonia Gandhi nor her chosen Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh are tired of talking is slipping out of the agenda. It is the realpolitik that now leads the United Progressive Alliance government in India, nay the Congress government. The partners in the government or the Left parties supporting the government from outside do not mean anything except as the prime minister recently said “some necessary noises”.

Analysis

A Fractured Polity where Indo Canadians  Swing Gobind Thukral Canadians in their collective wisdom struck to their previous 2004 model and threw up a fractured verdict. Call it a cautious balance, they separated Liberals from power, but did not grant the Conservatives the strength to push the country Bush ward. A weak Conservative minority government with an uncertain future could hardly push its agenda. Yet this kind of arrangement is always dicey.

Another Minority Government takes Office Gurpreet Singh reports from Vancouver After the end of 12 years rule of the Liberals in the federal election, another minority government under the leadership of Tory leader, Stephen Harper will be sworn in on February 6. The outgoing Prime Minister, Paul Martin has not only resigned from the PMO, he has also stepped down from the leadership of his party.

Law and Justice

Parliament and Judiciary: Conflict over Jurisdiction Joginder Singh Toor Should any conflict of jurisdiction between two wings of the State, be debated at all or not, and if so where? India political system faces this dilemma. The Constituent Assembly debated the issue of jurisdiction between each wing of the State.

Features

SAFTA: Between Hope and Despair Gobind Thukral WILL economics outclass politics in South Asia?  This question has assumed greater significance with South Asia Free Trade Area [SAFTA] coming into existence from January first. Will the seven countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) be able to unshackle themselves from the insufferable past and narrow their yawning differences over political issues and enhance trade relations?

Poverty Syndrome Vinod Anand ONE of the serious outcomes of the failure of the trickle down effect, essentially because of the ‘vested’ role of the State, is poverty.  The extent of poverty, as we know, is both severe and staggering all the world over. According to many research reports, (a) there exists an overlap between poverty and inequality, and that they are closely related, and (b) incidence of poverty correlates with low levels of health, education, and nutrition, inadequate shelter and other unsatisfactory social conditions.

Police and Minorities O.P. Sharma United Nations observed a Decade for Human Rights Education from 1995-2004. Asia and Pacific Regional Conference on the subject of Human Rights Education held at Pune in 1999 had emphasised on the need of a comprehensive, integrated and holistic approach to popularise such an education.

How Real is the Property Boom? Lali Sidhu Property owners never had such a good time. Fast urbanisation has sent land prices zooming, touching dizzy heights each passing day. India was always in the need of more houses for its shelter-less masses. However, building a house was not within the reach of the common man and only rich could afford to raise houses or bungalows.

Media as a Scarecrow: News Search Redo Amrit Chahal MANY things plague the world. One of the cornerstones of the media’s quest to scare the public is the Ebola virus. The Ebola virus as described in the best selling book HOT ZONE is not a huge threat to the world as the media portrays. Its true, however, that the Ebola virus is brutal if you contract it, but people infected with the virus usually die so quickly that they cannot spread it beyond their villages in Africa.

Newsbag

Dosti all the Way Trains and Buses to move between India and Pakistan Despite acrimony and deception still haunting the India Pakistan relations, an effort that began almost one year back has borne fruit to make people in the two countries travel by road more frequently. A bus that rolled over from Lahore on January 20 amidst emotional scenes in both the cities of Lahore and Amritsar is a definite proof that the people to people contact is ending some apprehensions.

Punjabi balle balle as MPs get elected again Gurpreet Singh writes from Vancouver ALL Punjabi Members of Parliament were elected in the 39th federal election of Canada. The January 23 election saw four Punjabi MPs of the Liberal Party being re-elected while two Punjabi Tory MPs also got elected for another term. In all, seven Punjabi MPs were elected in this election, including one new face.

Canada Elections: One Couple in, One Couple out Gurpreet Singh writes from Vancouver Thanks to Grewal tape controversy that rocked the Canadian parliament, one MP couple is out and replaced by another from Ontario in the House of Commons. Both the NDP leader Jack Layton and his wife Olivia Chow have been elected to the house during January 23 federal elections.

Latin America shifts to Left Jyotika J Thukral ON January 16 Chile elected its first woman President. This left- Centre, Michelle Bachelet took 53.5% of the votes against her rival, conservative businessman Sebastian Pinera who conceded a quick defeat. This victory consolidates a swing to the political left in Latin America.  Ms Bachelet, a socialist who was jailed and went into exile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, was elected the first female president of this South American nation in a historic vote.

Art & Films

A Schizophrenic Life through the Prism of a Film Jyotika J. Thukral FROM the portrayal of the ageing and lonely Anglo-Indian woman - 36 Chowringhee Lane to the chilling and effective microscopic view of communal hatred in Mr & Mrs Iyer and now the quandary of a schizophrenic patient in her latest venture 15 Park Avenue, Aparna Sen has proved her ability at directing sensitive films time and over.

Culture

Swarnjit Savi: A Poet who Paints Dr. Jaspal Singh AS a painter Swarnjit Savi has held dozens of exhibitions of his posters and paintings in different parts of Punjab. He conceptualised and painted seventy representative poems of renowned Punjabi poets from Baba Farid to the present times in the form of beautiful posters. The lingual texts in these posters got transformed into paintings, which in turn got 'translated' back into original articulations.

Origin of Punjabi Language, Literature and Culture Professor J.S. Grewal Language is not always a vehicle of communication and thought in the sub continent. It has been at the center of parochial and communal politics for long time. Region and religion have often clouded our vision about language and culture and our approach has neither been rational nor open. Eminent historian Professor J.S. Grewal who has been Vice Chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and Director and chairman of Indian Institute of Advanced Study Shimla discusses origin of Punjabi language, literature and culture in this four-part series. This is the fourth and final part and deals with the problems of diaspora.

Reflections on Republic Day Bal Anand Having recently joined the ranks of the senior citizens of the Republic, I have been feeling tempted to look back and forth -with all my acquired prides and prejudices-on the historic significance and background of the 'constitutional birth day' of modern India.

Homage

Khan Abdul Wali Khan: Passing of a political ear WHO in the India sub continent can forget that tall, simple and conscientious political figure of Badshah khan or Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan? He was ranked no less than Mahatma Gandhi    in matters of moral courage or uprightness and commitment.  These are not empty adjectives to lace the personality of this freedom fighter fondly called all across the continent as Sarhadi Gandhi [Gandhi of the Frontier], but describe the man.

Poetry

Amrit Chahal Of Wars and Desolation Vinod Anand "Nazar" Pace of Time Predicament

Letters

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