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The demographic imbalance in Uttarakhand has become a cause of concern for the government and the administration of the state. Security agencies are concerned over the fact that there has been an unprecedented increase in the Muslim population in specific areas of the state bordering Nepal, which is seen as problematic.

Within his homeland, Winston Churchill’s colossal contribution to saving his people from Hitler eclipses all else, and he is widely regarded as the greatest Briton of all time. But, could a man applauded for his courage in standing up to Adolf Hitler have had such contempt for another race that he did not change policies that led to starvation and death of at least three million? The man was Sir Winston Churchill and the famine that killed millions was in India in 1943.

The road to India's independence was horribly a tough one; every stride you make is an adventure. It was not that India got her freedom without blood-shed and violence. Though Gandhiji chose non-violence and civil disobedience as a means to free the fetters on India, it did not yield the desired results as we all know. Then and there, in the early 18th and 19th century, violence against the British misrule did raise its ugly head whenever there were lapses in the administration.

Secularism seems to require separation between religion and State. Regarding India, itwould be better to speak of ‘equidistance’ between State and religious denominations. Nonetheless a ‘balanced treatment’ towards the religions leaves the question open as to what form that equidistance should take. This is the reason of some contradictions in today’s Indian social and political life. It is likely that without the Moghul and British domination Hinduism would not have acquired a militant identity. It was the ‘epiphany’ of well-armed, powerful ‘Others’ (Muslim, Christian or secular) which gen...

On 16th August 1946, Kolkata (then Calcutta) experienced its most violent convulsions. The infamous ‘week of long knives’ – an unprecedented orgy of loot, murder, rapes and molestation let loose on the city’s unsuspecting Hindus by Muslim League strongmen and goons that left 7,000 people dead, tens of thousands maimed and an estimated 1.2 lakh homeless – started with the call for ‘direct action day’ by League supremo Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Today while running through deep searches for some specific content regarding Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi I came across mention of this author Ramchandra Guha. So, when Amazon was showing books written by him, there was this one book which caught my attention immediately "Chipko Movement". Excited to know what this movement was all about as I have never heard of any such andolan before in my life, I started going through many articles and synopsis submitted on the topic. We have always been told that as a Sanatani, that we pray nature, but does it mean one would be ready to giver his/her li...

‘The basis of the obligation of jihad is the universality of the Muslim revelation. God’s words and God’s message is for all mankind; it is the duty of those who have accepted them to strive (jihada) unceasingly to convert or at least subjugate those who have not. This obligation is without limit of time or space. It must continue until the whole world has either accepted the Islamic faith or submitted to the power of the Islamic state.’ [Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam]

Bollywood and controversies have a strong relation. Whether the talk is about casting couch, decadence, nepotism, bias or connections to the high and mighty, Bollywood has surely for long taken centre stage in the global media.

The Marathas deploying for action in the dim winter dawn: the Vazir, in full armour; whither do you fly?’: the choking dust: the combatants rolling on the ground, locked in a deadly embrace: the cries of ‘Din! Din!’ and ‘Har, Har, Mahadev!’ and lastly, the dramatic annihilation of one the most splendid and gallant armies that ever took the field. A defeat is, under some circumstances, as honorable as a victory; and never, in all their annals, did the Maratha armies cover themselves with greater glory, than when the flower of the chivalry of the Deccan perished on the stricken field of Panip...