Columnists

Sanjib Baruah

The writer is professor of political studies, Bard College, New York

Peace accords in Northeast require more decoding than we have been inclined to do

Fri, Jul 24, 2020

Sanjib Baruah writes: Armed groups in Northeast India have a long track record of successfully claiming a share of development funds — with the complicity of elected and appointed public officials — both before and after signing “peace accords”. Nagaland may be the leader in this regard, but not an exception.

Not a nation of immigrants: Behind politics of immigration in Trump’s America

Fri, Jul 03, 2020

Anxiety about unintended consequences of a 1965 law lies behind politics of immigration in Trump's America.

George Floyd protests draw attention to how little has changed on race and justice

Wed, Jun 17, 2020

In India, critics have legitimately called out the hypocrisy of elites who express digital solidarity with American protesters but ignore police violence and racial prejudice at home.

Society needs to regain moral compass

Thu, May 28, 2020

Society needs to regain moral compass, address plight of people in cities whose precarious livelihoods keep them steps away from destitution.

South Korea holds lessons for leaders trying to use crisis to consolidate power

Mon, May 04, 2020

President Moon Jae-in’s left-leaning Democratic Party won a landslide victory in South Korea’s parliamentary elections last month, signalling strong public approval of the government’s handling of the crisi

CAA-led narrative on religious persecution ignores political specificity, nuance in neighbourhood

Wed, Jan 22, 2020

India’s new official narrative is, at complete variance with the understanding that has informed Indian foreign policy so far. If Hindus were equally persecuted in East Pakistan/Bangladesh both before and after it broke away from Pakistan, why did India even bother to intervene in the war of liberation?

Protesters’ fears about CAA founded on history, accumulated experience

Tue, Dec 17, 2019

This is not the first time that a major country has adopted an ideology-driven refugee policy. There are lessons to be drawn from the experience of countries that had adopted similar policies before.

Defining thousands as non-citizens will create a new form of precarious citizenship — people with fewer rights, entitlements

Sat, Aug 31, 2019

India is unlikely to deport to Bangladesh people who fail NRC test. But the millions who will become non-citizens will have fewer rights

The fire in Assam

Tue, Jan 15, 2019

Many view the citizenship amendment bill as a betrayal of BJP’s poll promise

Winning the neighbourhood

Fri, Nov 02, 2018

India has displayed an ample supply of national self-confidence and pride in recent years. But the self-confidence has not translated into good public policy.

The missing 4,007,707

Thu, Aug 02, 2018

Can a democracy permit so many to be in a state of liminal legality? NRC poses a political and moral question

A lesson from Arunachal Pradesh

Fri, Jul 20, 2018

Debate over the state’s anti-conversion law points to the need to give more attention to religious change from the perspective of the ‘converted’.

Citizens, non-citizens, minorities

Thu, Jun 28, 2018

Updating of the National Register of Citizens in Assam and the Citizenship Amendment Bill could lead to a redrawing of the demographic map of South Asia, give new life to the discredited two-nation theory.

Stateless in Assam

Fri, Jan 19, 2018

Thousands could be declared non-citizens when the National Register of Citizens is finalised. Since their deportation is an almost impossible option, the focus will be on the detention policy.

How we define Assam’s flood problem

Sat, Aug 26, 2017

... is crucial to any attempts towards addressing it. It will require a careful consideration of the history of the state’s complex encounter with floods

Who can become an Indian citizen?

Mon, Nov 28, 2016

Partition’s long shadow is evident on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which seeks to introduce a religious distinction in the law. It must be debated

A battle lost, a war to be won

Sat, Aug 20, 2016

Her supporters in Manipur and elsewhere should thank Irom Sharmila for her extraordinary sacrifice and move on with their campaign against AFSPA without her iconic presence.