India’s struggle for independence had been witness to some of the most interesting thoughts on education being articulated and experimented with, vigorously Perhaps no other country’s struggle for independence saw such a robust and rich parallel education movement as did India’s from the 1890s to the late 1930s. Throughout this …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s offer of central assistance in arresting the downward slide in West Bengal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s ongoing trip to the state and his asking for Mamata’s cooperation in handling the situation and in dissolving the anti-national and inter-country network of jihad that has now …

It’s a cause for concern when Tagore’s institution, once a window for global minds to read India’s timeless civilisational message, loiters from its founding ideals In the last week of March 1936, an ailing Rabindranath Tagore, having toured the “big towns” of North India with his dance troupe performing the …

Mahatma Gandhi’s restructuring of the Congress was nothing short of a radical overhaul. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Swachh Bharat” movement, it was as though the Mahatma, in whose name mere tokenism has been practiced for the last six decades, was at last beginning to be adopted by …

The present initiative to bring about a larger awareness and determination to achieve national cleanliness is a welcome return to our values and traditions A high state of order, sublimity and well-functioning local institution has usually been expressive of an advance civilisational stage. To a number of observers, India appeared …

One of the most articulate voices of Eastern education philosophy, Kireet Joshi was futuristic yet traditional With the passing away of Kireet Joshi, pre-eminent education philosopher and administrator, the curtains have been drawn on a creative and vibrant era of Indian education which had derived direct inspiration from the National …

The revolutionary nationalist’s action defined that key phase of our freedom struggle which seeded the Indian psyche with an urge for independence Jatindranath Mukherjee or ‘Bagha Jatin’ (1879-1915), was unarguably one of the most astute, dynamic and fearless leaders of the pre-Gandhian revolutionary nationalist phase in India. A household name …

For academics, intellectuals and activists of this section, of which the eminent columnist-scholar is a leading member, the Gita was always better approached by trying to decipher and dissect – in a dialectical spirit – whether Lord Krishna actually existed, or whether the battle of Mahabharat was rather more of …

Teachers’ Day, being observed this year, perhaps for the first time, as a festival, is a great tribute not only to the philosopher-statesman in whose memory and educational contribution the occasion is commemorated but also points to a deeper civilisational dimension in India where education itself, in the days of …

A re-imagined and re-awakened new Asian Order is in the making with Prime Minister Modi reaching out to the East and South East countries It augurs well that over the past few months India has begun to look and act East with renewed vigour and commitment. India’s recent reaching out …

Professor Sankari Prasad Basu had devoted his life to an unrivalled research into the life and times of Swami Vivekananda. He has left behind a rich legacy One of Swami Vivekananda’s foremost biographers, Professor Sankari Prasad Basu, recently passed away. The prolific Prof Basu chose to silently fade away, having …

Most of those revolutionary nationalists who died or suffered extreme deprivation because they dared to challenge the might of the British empire, would indeed find this debate on the singing of Vande Mataram absurd and incomprehensible. If only they had been around to witness the imposing discourse which takes a …

The year 2014 marks the 1,000th anniversary of the mighty Hindu monarch Rajendra Chola I’s ascension to the throne. The occasion calls for greater national and international commemoration. Rajendra I, described by Georges Coedès as “prince audacieux”, and by R C Majumdar as the “greater son of a greater father”, …

The Modi regime should seriously look into salvaging the National Mission for Manuscripts. An autonomous status will be welcome. It’s a civilisational imperative In 2007 it was largely because of the efforts of the New Delhi-based National Mission for Manuscripts that the collection of Rigveda manuscripts in the possession of the Bhandarkar …