News
Crisis in BESU : A Counterviews Report in
Bengali New
Gross irregularities in admission process in a private Medical College in Kolkata
Act Now
Online petition to the Governer, WB to
Withdraw police cases against BESU students
Counterviews Webzine
February Issue
- Indian Tribes After Sixty Years — Walter Fernandes
- Just Compensation for Land: Singur Controversy — Madhusudan Dutta
- N-Power and Petrochemicals : “ Scientific Superstitions” — Manindra Narayan Majumder
Recent Articles
Chemical Hub at Nayachar
- No to Nayachar Hub : Experts [link]
- Proposed Chemical Hub in Nayachar : An Objective Assessment — Abhijit Sengupta [pdf, 51 KB]
- Nayachar — Terminal Symptom of a Malady by Subrata Sinha [link] (The Statesman, 12th February 2008)
- The Proposed Chemical Hub in Nayachar : Some Argumentative Issues of Concern — Kalyan Rudra [pdf]
- GSI's preliminary note on visit to Nayachar [pdf]
Work for all: An alternative path of development
Discussions with Amit Bhaduri regarding his concept of “Development with Dignity” led some of us to think that the alternative path of development he was trying to chart could present before the resistance movement against the current onslaught of the big corporations a current programme of action which would also be relevant to the greater task of social transformation. A draft of such a programme of action is being hereby circulated for discussion.
— Meher Engineer, Rabin Chakraborty, Subhasis Mukherjee, Soumya Guha Thakurta and Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri [ pdf, 56 KB ]
Predatory Growth
— Amit Bhaduri [ pdf, 60 KB ]
The Tata Story
— Dipankar Dey [ link]
টাটা—বুদ্ধের লাভের বখরায় জনসাধারণের কী লাভ? (Tata-Buddher Labher Bakhray Janasadharaner Ki Labh)
— A bengali article on the Tata Motor Car Project in Singur by Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri. [ pdf, 44 KB ]
Economics and Politics of Indo-US Nuclear Deal
— Two extensive articles on Indo-US Nuclear Deal by Guruprasad Kar
- Bharat Markin Paramanu Chuktir Arthaniti O Rajniti [ pdf, 184 KB ]
- 123 Chukti : Markin Byabosayik O Samarik Swarthei Rachito [ pdf, 128 KB ]
See also
- The Indo-US Nuclear Pact and the hoax of Nuclear Power by Prof. Dipanjan Raichaudhuri [ pdf, 84 KB ]
- Nuclear Power for Eastern India : No Basis for Choice by Debkumar Bose (courtesy EPW) [ pdf, 44 KB ]
Watch out
- “Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda” — A documentary on unsafe uranium mining in Jadugoda, Jharkhand which has resulted in excessive radiation leading to genetic mutation and slow death. [ From Youtube in six parts — click here ]
গড়তে গেলে ঘুরে দাঁড়াতে হবে (Garte Gele Ghure Darate Hobe)
— A bengali article on the entry of big-giants in the retail sector of India by Abhee K. Dutt-Mazumder [ pdf, 232 KB ]
Economic Power and Economic Governance : Political Economy of Contemporary Development Dynamics
— Ratan Khasnabis [ pdf, 51 KB ]
Endemic Fluoride Toxicosis : WB Not Exempt Crippling Effects : Incurable, but Easily Resistable
— Manindra Narayan Majumder [ pdf, 320 KB ]
Peace is my mission, Love is my passion but War is my vision
— Ranesh Roy [ pdf, 23 KB ]
BESU : Another ploy to strangle the voice of democracy
— Ashokendu Sengupta [ pdf, 100 KB ]
Dr. Binayak Sen must be released forthwith
— Sukumari Bhattacharya and Dipanjan Raichaudhuri [ pdf, 40 KB ]
Dissent and Reconstruction: West Bengal Plunging into Anarchy
— Amlan Dutta (Translation Probal Dasgupta) [ pdf, 52 KB ]
Tall Claim : Employment Generated by Haldia Petrochemicals
This short note by Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri is supplementary to his article “ Haldia Petrochemicals and Unemployment in East Midnapore ” [ pdf, 60 KB ]
Growth of a Wasteland
Economic growth tends to be sustained over a period of time by mutually reinforcing tendencies. This process has appeared in different guises in various fields of enquiry to describe essentially similar phenomena. Biologists have long known it as symbiosis or mutualism between two species; they appear as autocatalysis in chemical reactions, and engineers dealing with electrical circuits call similar mechanisms systems of positive mutual feedbacks. Economists Myrdal and Kaldor tried to capture this phenomenon occurring during the process of economic growth as the mechanism of ‘cumulative causation’, and ‘dynamic increasing returns’ respectively. While most processes of economic growth sustained over a period of time might be characterized by this somewhat abstract notion of mutually reinforcing tendencies, each historical process is also different in so far as it generates it own specific tendencies. It is the specificity of these reinforcing tendencies that determine to a large extent the developmental politics underlying this growth process. — writes Amit Bhaduri [ pdf, 60 KB ]
A Thermodynamic Analysis of Development Technologies
— Sanat Mohanty
Where will technology go? What will technology do? These questions lie at the center of one set of debates with regards to the direction of technology development, policies on resources and technologies, their need and utilization and and the social, political and environmental impact of these choices. This article discusses about the policies and technologies which are truly going to be sustainable.
Though the proof of the central assertion is aimed at the student of science, the simplicity of the language and the absence of jargons make this article friendly towards the non specialist reader too. [ pdf, 264 KB ]
Sakaler Hate Kaaj O Amartya Sen (Work for everyone and Amartya Sen)
A critique of Amartya Sen’s articles “ THE INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY — Developments in West Bengal” and “ POLICY BY DISCUSSION - Developments in West Bengal ” in The Telegraph by Dipanjan Raichaudhuri [ pdf, 56 KB ]
Share Market Gyrations: Thwarting National Policy Making
— Arun Kumar [courtsey : The Tribune] [ pdf, 72 KB ]
Look Back in Anger
A critique of Left Front's education policy. — Asokendu Sengupta [ pdf, 36 KB ]
Rethinking Marxists’ strategy of Development in West Bengal
— Sanjeeb Mukherjee
Almost all governments legitimize themselves by claiming to bring about development — it is the principal slogan of all political advertising. Left and right governments do not differ much on this question. Development promises justice for everybody. Development is treated as a scientific and technical thing for experts to decide and administer. There is no place for politics or democracy in this entire enterprise.
The article induces to think critically about development and the Left government Front (LF) government’s perspective on development in West Bengal since 1977. First, it examines the CPM’s (the dominant partner of the ruling coalition) imaginary of development and then, tries to answer how the CPM, which, believed in fighting capitalism and imperialism and in making a revolution, has today come to be capital’s greatest advocate? How did this transformation come about? Finally, it tries to look for alternatives to this model of development — alternatives, both in theory and practice, alternatives, which can be implemented here and now. [ pdf, 188 KB ]
Ongoing Debate : Use of Agricultural Land for Industries
“ Prohibiting the use of agricultural land for industries is ultimately self-defeating”
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen speaks to The Telegraph on land acquisition for industrialisation, one of the most important issues facing Bengal and large parts of the country. [ link ]
Sen, Sense and Nonsense : On the difficulties of being Amartya Sen in a time like ours
This essay by Aseem Shrivastava takes issue with Amartya Sen's pronouncements on the topic in the interview given to The Telegraph. [ pdf, 100 KB]
Amartya Sen: The Master as Apologist
— Dipanjan Raichaudhuri [ link ]
Last Update 13 November, 2008
Feedbacks and Suggestions to : counterviews.mail[at]gmail.com
