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Showing posts from September, 2021

The Problems with Westphalian Nation-State System

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We all associate ourselves with various identities such as Indians, Chinese, Pakistani, Americans, Canadians, French, British and much more. Why do you think we all associate with all these more? Are there any other identities which people associate with?  The identities which I mentioned before are relatively new compared to other identities such as religion, language, caste, and various other identities. It is not to say that people never had such feelings towards nations or the state. But the idea of loyalty and love for the motherland was very important which offset various other identities. The question we are arriving at is what is the motherland, who made and how it formed.  What we refer to today as a Nation or Country refers to what we know in political science as a Nation-State. Today almost all the countries we know are categorised Nation-States and some even as State-Nations. International Relations and Political Science suggest that states are the most important a...

Afghanistan, Taliban, the US and some questions to ponder

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  Everything happened in less than a week. It was unfortunate! Afghanistan is a Religious Conservative country, the support for the Taliban and hatred for the US is overwhelming in Rural areas especially among the Pashtuns. That's why the Taliban took the country sooner than expected. Most regions saw grant welcome from the locals. Both these locals and the Taliban reject democracy. The situation in cities is exactly the opposite, they want to oust the Taliban and want a free society. They're angry with the local govt as they abandoned them.  Both have a feeling that the local govt was a US puppet.  US withdrawal The US wanted to take revenge against Al Qaeda for 9/11 (Accomplished).  It already killed Osama Bin Laden. Gave moral and financial support to local government.  Trained and funded the Afghan military, modernised it.  Tried to install a democratically elected govt despite not everyone in the country accepted it. Believes that Nation-building of Af...

Newscapsule For the Fortnight(1-15th)

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Following are the top news for the fortnight.   If you wish to follow and get notifications of future articles, you can signup using the email on the left sidebar. You can also read our blogs in any language, using the translate widget.  Kerala  NHAI to proceed on with the work on National Highways on both sides. Kerala State TV Awards 2021 announced.   Government unveils a plan for new ration cards which will be the size of an ATM card. The distribution will start from November 1st.  Karnataka instructed students and returned arriving from Kerala to defer to their plans to enter the state at least till the end of October. Those requiring entry into the state will have to stay in mandatory 7 days institutional quarantine .  Kerala drops Night curfew and weekend lockdowns in the state.  Pay Revision Commission proposes an increase in pension age and a reduction of the present system to 5 working days a week. The government decides not to pr...

Mistakes Made by Congress Party at Both Centre and Kerala and the Common Solution for the Same

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Indian National Congress Party or popularly called as Congress Party is the principal Opposition party in the country. It currently has close to 52 MPs in the House of 543 and leads the United Progressive Alliance in the country.  Disclaimer- This is not an Anti Congress post, but where we discuss some mistakes made by the party which it can correct and improve to become a better party for the future. Here is an important precurser to the article.   For the past Seventy Years, Indian Politics revolved around the single Political Party- Indian National Congress . Only a few years back that the centre is now with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is the current ruling party. From a party that ruled the country on all three levels of the government to a party having less than 1/10th seats of the Lok Sabha and hardly three states under its rule, the party is now dying. We look into the downfall of the Party and also look into solutions by comparing the nationwide situation...

News Capsule for the Week- August (21st-31st)

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   Following are the top news for the week (11-20).   If you wish to follow and get notifications of future articles, you can signup using the email on the left sidebar.  Kerala  Congress party sees worst revolt after the list of DCC presidents were announced by the State leadership with the strong backing of the High Command.  Leaders Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala showed extreme dissatisfaction with the list and told that group should be a matter that should be concerned. A senior leader from Palakkad A V Gopinath leaves the party citing the same.  Increased Paliyekara Toll rates will be in effect from September 1.  Onam festival takes a toll on Kerala's COVID tally forcing TPR to reach 20%.  The government decides to impose a Night curfew from 10 PM to 6 AM  to curb the rising COVID-19 cases.  Health Ministry keeps September 30 as the deadline to vaccinate everyone above the age of 18.  KSRTC commuters numbers ...