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Announced: 'Bharatateel Davya Chalvalincha Magova' Marathi translation of Praful Bidwai's book Phoenix Moment - Book launch & symposium on 5 Oct 2018 in Pune

INVITATION

Late Praful Bidwai’s book ‘THE PHOENIX MOMENT, Challenges Confronting the Indian Left’ was published in 2015. Now it’s MARATHI version published by ROHAN Prakashan, Pune, ‘Bharatateel DAVYA CHALVALINCHA MAGOVA – Itihas, Avhaane aani Nav-Sanjivaneechya Shakyata’ (translated by Milind Champanerkar ) will be released on Friday, 5 th October, 2018 at Shramik Patrakar Sangh Hall, Navi Peth, Pune. The Release function includes a Symposium on ‘Davee Chalval: Nav-Sanjivaneechya Shakyata’. This programme has been jointly organised by ‘ROHAN PRAKASHAN, Parivartanacha WATSARU and SAMAJ VIDNYAN AKADEMI, Pune.

The programme will be as follows:

Book Release & Symposium Time: Friday, 5 th October, 2018, Evening 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm Venue: Shramik Patrakar Sangh Hall, Navi Peth, Pune

Book Release Compeering/Welcome: Milind Champanerkar Publisher’s Speech: Pradeep Champanerkar Book Release: in presence of Kumar Ketkar, Achin Vanaik and Gopal Guru Speakers: Surendra Jondhale Achin Vanaik Kumar Ketkar

Symposium: Bharatateel Davee Chalval: Nav-sanjivaneechya Shakayata Introduction: Suhas Paranjape Participants: Kumar Shiralkar Ulka Mahajan Sandhya Gokhale Jayant Pawar

Concluding Speech Gopal Guru (Editor, EPW)

  • Rohan Prakashan *Parivartanacha Watsaru *Samaj Vidnyaan Akademi

Milind Champanerkar/ Pradeep Champanerkar/ Abhay Kanta/ Surendra Jondhale/Suhas Paranjape/ Swatija / Datta Desai / Anant Phadake

Cover of Praful Bidwai's book in MarathiBack cover of Praful Bidwais book in Marathi

Sumanta Banerjee's review of The Phoenix Moment in Economic and Political Weekly

Praful left us on 23 June 2015. But we are thankful to him for leaving behind for us this wonderful intellectually stimulating book that traces not only the history of the Indian communist movement, but also suggests an alternative courageous strategy for the left in the coming future.

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Book Review: Behind the Left’s decline (Roshan Kishore)

Praful Bidwai’s book, The Phoenix Moment: Challenges Confronting the Indian Left provides a comprehensive political history of the Indian Left

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Book Review: Saving What’s Left (Ajith Pillai)

While Praful Bidwai’s critique of the Left is sympathetic at one level, it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to addressing flaws that have dogged the communist movement in India

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Book Review: How the Left was lost (Archis Mohan)

In this book, published posthumously, author pulls no punches in detailing the reasons for the "terminal decline" of the Left movement in India

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Invitation to the Launch of Praful Bidwai's book 'Phoenix Moment: Challenges Confronting The Indian Left' (8 Nov 2015 @ IIC, New Delhi)

Invitation to Delhi Book Release for Pheonix Moment

Beyond Congress’s Leadership Failure: An existential crisis

It’s a telling comment on the state of the Indian National Congress that a four-member committee it appointed four months ago to devise a strategy to rejuvenate the party and fight the Modi government has turned out a non-starter.

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Did Obama Legitimize Extremist Violence With His Visit to India?

The president roped once-non-aligned India into a strategic alliance, but only by bolstering the Modi government, with its religious intolerance and pro-corporate policies.

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After Peshawar: Seize the peace opportunity

India can make this a unique moment for South Asia too by reaching out to Pakistan with earnest proposals for cooperation—whether in fighting terrorism, aggressively promoting trade, or stabilising Afghanistan. This entails a sea-change in the official mindset—from regarding Pakistan as an enemy to be vanquished, to a potentially friendly neighbour, with whom contentious issues can be peacefully resolved. India must not squander this opportunity.

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INDE – L’intouchabilité continue à prospérer

A la question “Accepteriez-vous qu’un dalit entre dans votre cuisine ou qu’il utilise vos ustensiles de cuisine?”, 27% des Indiens répondent NON! Telle est une des réponses qui ressort de l’Enquête sur le développement humain en Inde (IHDS-2) dont les premiers résultats sont diffusés dans la presse indienne. Le texte qui suit se base sur un article de Praful Bidwai (*) paru le 15 décembre 2014 dans le Kashmir Times.

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Untouchability Thrives In India: Fighting the caste menace

It’s fashionable in some circles to claim that discrimination based on caste has steadily decreased in India, as it’s bound to, thanks to modernisation, urbanisation and industrialisation. The character of caste is itself changing from a system of social hierarchy based on birth and ritual purity, to a political phenomenon. As India evolves into a “merit-based” society, the argument goes, there can be no place for untouchability vis-à-vis Dalits (Scheduled Castes) in it.

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The Janata Parivar 2.0 Initiative: Real hope or illusion?

Among the more interesting recent developments in Indian politics is the attempt to regroup fragments of the old Janata Parivar and launch a new, reunified party which recreates the once-powerful Socialist current in politics. Long a part of the Left, this current was second in importance only to the Communists until the 1970s.

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India-Pakistan: Courting yet more nuclear danger?

Eighteen years after it rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Indian government remains implacably hostile to it, and bristles even at attempts to raise the issue of its entry into force (EIF). This was demonstrated again last week when a member of an eminent persons’ group, established by the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organisation to promote EIF, visited India. He was given the cold shoulder by the foreign ministry. India professes a commitment to global nuclear disarmament, but doesn’t support an important, indispensable, step towards abolishing these mass-destruction arms — the only weapons which can exterminate all life on earth, and against which there’s no real defence.

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Why The Right To Dissent Is Indispensable: Romila Thapar speaks out

When Bharatiya Janata Party leader LK Advani famously said of the media during the Emergency that “when asked to bend, they crawled”, he received widespread praise from the intelligentsia and even from people opposed to the BJP’s ideology—because he spoke the truth about the loss of independence and professional integrity on the part of the Fourth Estate and other institutions. Today, not just the media, but leaders from the fields of education, culture, healthcare and law, are crawling before the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh without even being asked to bend

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Natwar Singh’s Hollow ‘Disclosures’: But Congress’s crisis is grim

Mr Singh sheds very little light on a tumultuous period in history which saw the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a newly aggressive United States, and a drastic re-alignment of India’s foreign policy towards it, in which he himself played a part. He presents himself as a staunch defender of India’s independent foreign policy and Non-Alignment, when the recent record shows the opposite.

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Natwar’s disclosures and Congress’ crisis

India’s former foreign minister Natwar Singh is no ordinary diplomat-turned-politician. A part of the Establishment for half-a-century, he is well educated, widely travelled, a close witness to major events, and capable of reflection. So when he published his memoirs One Life is Not Enough, readers expected more from him than from the recent book on Manmohan Singh by his former media adviser, Sanjaya Baru.

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Bigotry, big money and India

Two weeks ago, many public-spirited Indians complimented the country’s Election Commission for banning public campaigning by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh chief election manager Amit Shah, and the Samajwadi Party’s fiery Azam Khan, both of whom spoke provocatively for or against specific religious groups.

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Baru’s book: too much hype, too little real disclosure

The Accidental Prime Minister, the book by Sanjaya Baru, media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2004-08, has become a sensational best-seller primarily because its release was timed to coincide with the election campaign. Unsurprisingly, the BJP seized upon it to repeat its pet charge about Singh being India’s “weakest-ever” PM, and otherwise malign the Congress.

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Shrinking base: The Left is painting itself into a corner

India’s Left parties, among the world’s biggest parties belonging to the Communist tradition, face a huge crisis as the Lok Sabha election approaches. The election will largely decide if they can reverse their recent setbacks, or go into a steep decline, with waning political-intellectual influence and growing organisational disarray.

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Why Kejriwal can dent Modi's campaign

'AAP's real value must be measured not by the number of Lok Sabha seats it wins in the election which may not exceed 10 or 15 and not even by the number of votes it takes from the BJP, but by its ability to deflate Modi's superhuman '56-inch chest' image and the charisma so assiduously manufactured around him by the corporate-controlled media,' says Praful Bidwai.

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