Past & Politics

'The director is the only person who knows what the film is about.'  Well known for his humanistic approach to Cinema, Satyajit Ray was born on 2nd May 1921 in  Calcutta. Belonging to a family of artists, writers and visionaries Ray was the son of the Indian Edward Lear, Sukumar Ray and Suprobha Devi and grandson of renowned Children's author, illustrator, philosopher and a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, Upendrakishore Roychowdhury. Ray completed his school at Ballygunge Government High School and pursued his degree in Economics from Presidency University. Later on his mother's insistence he tried at Vishwa Bharati University at Shantiniketan in spite of his reluctance and incomparable love for Calcutta. He learned Oriental Art under the tutelage of Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee and the excursions to Ellora, Ajanta and Elephanta stimulated this interest. In 1943, Ray started work at D.J. Keymer, a British-run advertising agency, as a "junior visualiser,...

India has seen 14 Presidents since its independence in 1947. Unlike the post of Prime Minister, the incumbents to the highest office of the republic has successfully upheld India's deep seated admiration for secularism and equality. The post has been held by luminaries and well regarded individuals beginning from Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr S Radhakrishnan, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and even Pranab Mukherjee. However, being a de jure position, each incumbent had settled his role and defined his boundaries quite differently as compared to his successors or predecessors. To examine the roles of each President would be a lengthy affair and I do not consider myself worthy to attempt such a daunting task. However something that recently caught my attention is the stark resemblance of an occupant who was once in this office nearly 50 years back and the current occupant of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Since 1950, Raisina Hill was home to fourteen individuals each of who conducted themselves ve...

Described as the largest miscarriages of justice in the UK, the Horizons Sub-Postmaster Scandal is one of the most intriguing occurrences of failure of technology in recent times yeilding cataclysmic results on the lives of hundreds. The story goes back to 1999, when Post Office Limited introduced the Horizons computer system developed by the Japanese MNC Fujitsu for tasks like transactions, accounting and stocktaking. Since it's inauguration two decades back, several sub-postmasters complained of bugs in the whole system that led to discrepancies in accounting and reported shortfalls amounting to thousands of pounds. The situation was so desperate that sometimes postmasters had to pour in their own money to reimburse the shortfalls in counting these huge ammounts of money and had to even remortgage their homes as a result. A Campaign organised by the Support Our Sub-postmasters Association. Many of the wrongly convicted came under these umbrella associations for seekin...

'Whoever holds the purse, holds the power.' The words of Former US President, John Madison is perhaps a very appropriate way to kick off such a topic. On February 1, 2021 the Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for the Fiscal Year 2021-22 in the Lok Sabha. According to Article 112 of the Indian Constitution it is refered to as the Annual Financial Statement. Till date 92 budgets have been presented with the first one by Dr RK Shanmukham Chetty for FY 1947-48. Whilst this was Sitharaman's third budget, it is unparalleled in the aspect of being India's first paperless budget. The Budget had some big announcements and had some gigantic figures which was hailed by the market. The Stock Exchange gave its 21 gun salute through brilliant and profitable transactions on the day the budget was being presented. Within moments it earned the sorbiquet of a 'balanced budget' by journalists and economists alike. The Budget concentrated on six key ...

Mohondas Karamchand Gandhi. An individual sometimes referred to as Bapu or sometimes as the Mahatma. A man whose ideals inspired many not only in India but throughout the world in their own struggles against injustice and oppression. What makes him so revered till this date is the unique mode of methods he adopted to oust an exploitative colonial power. Today a lot of efforts have been made to dent on the rich legacy this man has left. However needless to say, a lot of it is outright exaggeration. Gandhi and Kasturba were married at a very young age. Gandhi prohibited doctors to prescribe Western Medicine when the latter was suffering from pneumonia relying only on Indian medicine which later led to her death in 1944. Gandhi like all other human beings had his fair share of flaws. He abused his wife. He was unkind towards his children. Allegations that he tried to mould the sexuality of his grandnieces have too been raised which however have never been constructively proved...

Popularly remembered as 'The Lion of Punjab' Lala Lajpat Rai was born on 28th January 1865 at Jagraon in  the Punjab presidency.  His father, Munshi Radha Krishna Agarwal was the teacher of Persian and Urdu of the Government school in Dhudike married to Gulab Devi, the Lala's mother. His early education began at the Government Higher Secondary School in Rewari where his father was transferred in 1870. Upon completing his schooling, he began to pursue law at the Government College, Lahore where he came in contact with other noteworthy members of the freedom struggle Lala Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt. Being brought up in a Hindu household, Lajpat Rai was attracted to the ideals of Swami Dayanand Saraswati and his Arya Samaj. Upon becoming the member of the Society's Lahore Branch, Rai founded the Arya-Gazette which strengthened his beliefs in the tenets of Hinduism. According to him, Hinduism paved way for a humane society on which Indian lifestyle should be based. Howev...