Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

The Yogi as a Pugilist

Psychotherapy-cum-Martial Exercise in the Indian Armed Forces

Vol - L No. 33, August 15, 2015 | Sumanta Banerjee 

• Commentary

The way in which the secular practice of yoga is being saffronised by a government that has made it compulsory for the armed and paramilitary forces looks like yet another attempt to supplement colonial model-based recruitment on the basis of caste and region, by psychologically indoctrinating jawans in the values and norms of Hindutva.

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Lines Drawn upon Water

Vol - L No. 33, August 15, 2015 | Neha Sinha 

• Book Reviews

Nature without Borders edited by Mahesh Rangarajan, M D Madhusudan and Ghazala Shahabuddin, New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan, 2014; pp 270, Rs 535, hardcover.

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Special Articles Culture and Life of Government Elementary Schools A R Vasavi Government elementary schools are layered institutions that are affected by a bureaucratic administration, the specificities of local societies, and the agency of teachers. Although promoted as an agency and institution of democracy, modernity... Read more	Web Exclusives In Search of a Professional Identity A Schoolteacher Speaks Sonika Chauhan This essay examines the recent focus on reforms in school education—increased use of scripted ready-made materials and standardisation of educational experiences—that are sidelining the multiple social and cultural locations of the... Read more
Notes J F Duff and the University Education Commission of India, 1948-49 Rakesh Ankit It has been a difficult period for university education in India, with the controversy around the four-year undergraduate programme joining the old complaints about lack of autonomy, political interference, financial ill-health, and deteriorating... Read more	Perspectives Understanding Vyapam Krishna Kumar The Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh is not the familiar story of exam cheating. It is about the mutation of exam cheating into a service industry facilitated by the State. Understanding it requires a look at the political economy of a hollowed-out... Read more
Editorials The Reserve Bank and the Government Is there a larger design in the disrespect this government is showing towards institutions? Read more	Editorials Politics of Immunisation The health ministry's move on HPV vaccine feasibility is ill-advised. Read more
Editorials Secrecy and Control Stay tuned for the continuing broadcast of Newspeak from the Ministry of Truth. Read more	Commentary Recent Trends in India's Merchandise Trade Warning Signs for the Economy Surajit Mazumdar The contraction of India's merchandise trade, both exports and imports, from December 2014 is a worrying development, even if it has led to a temporary improvement in trade balance. The substantial decline in international oil prices, and its... Read more
Commentary Falling Sick, Paying the Price NSS 71st Round on Morbidity and Costs of Healthcare T Sundararaman, V R Muraleedharan The decennial National Sample Survey on health and education provides useful information on the health and education of the population. The summary report on health from the 71st round conducted in 2014 allows us to make an initial assessment of... Read more	Commentary Swaminathan MSP Solution to Agrarian Crisis and Farmers’ Distress? Ranjit Singh Ghuman Farmers' unions and political parties have been demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan minimum support price (cost plus 50%) to address agrarian crisis and farmers' distress. But they have not raised demands for the... Read more
Commentary India and Russia in a Changing World Archana Upadhyay This article analyses the 15th Annual India-Russia Summit of December 2014. It situates the traditionally strong Indo-Russian strategic ties in a post-Cold War world in which multiple new power centres are set to emerge. Read more	Book Reviews The Machine and Its Limits Iftekhar Iqbal Technology and Rural Change in Eastern India 1830-1980 by Smritikumar Sarkar; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014; pp 355, Rs 895. Read more
Special Articles Birth, Life and Death of Development Finance Institutions in India Deepak Nayyar This essay traces the evolution of development finance institutions in India from conception and birth, soon after independence, through infancy to adulthood and maturity, followed by a winding down at the turn of the century and closure in the... Read more	Special Articles Safe Abortion as a Women’s Right Perceptions of Law Enforcement Professionals Suchitra Dalvie, Alka Barua, Hemant Apte A study conducted among law enforcement officials in seven countries across Asia by the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership to measure the level of knowledge, attitude and awareness of women’s rights as well as safe and legal abortion shows lack... Read more
Discussion Intersectionality Rejection or Critical Dialogue? Mary E John Two responses to Nivedita Menon's "Is Feminism about 'Women'? A Critical View on Intersectionality from India" (EPW, 25 April 2015) appreciate the article's attempt to initiate a debate on "intersectionality."... Read more	Discussion Struggles around Gender Some Clarifications Meena Gopal This is a brief critique of some of the positions put forth in Nivedita Menon’s article “Is Feminism about ‘Women’? A Critical View on Intersectionality from India” (25 April 2015). The paper covered diverse and... Read more
Economic Notes Gross Value Added Why Not the Double Deflation Method for Estimation? J Dennis Rajakumar, S L Shetty To estimate gross value added for the manufacturing sector, the 2011-12 National Accounts Statistics series follows the "single deflation" instead of the "double deflation" method. In this note, it is argued that the double... Read more	Postscript Yakub’s Tragedy Jyoti Punwani The hanging of Yakub Memon betrays the trust of the Indian state in his return of the wealth of information he had provided against the perpetrators of the Bombay bomb blasts of 1993. Read more
Postscript Believing Is Seeing Nada Faris Our biological propensity to fictionalise the world makes reality a shared belief, not a fact or a mere aggregation of experiences. Read more	Postscript Lab-Coat Glamour Neha Sinha The stereotypical image of women—including those in science—as sentimental beings with strong notions of sacrifice and duty is unquestionably heteropatriarchal.