Ram Puniyani
Showing all 22 books
The phenomenon of Religion and Godmen has become a very compelling topic in current times. While the tradition of clergy and saints has been fairly old the Godmen of present times are a newer addition. Their mass following, their hypnotic appeal and massive wealth is there for all to see. This volume brings together some of the thought provoking essays on the trend of current Godmen in India. The root of the understanding them is ingrained in multiple essays ...
Analysing contentious contemporary issues in historical perspective Communalism: India’s Struggle for Democracy and Pluralism weighs the potency of communalism to corrode the plural core of Indian democracy. Each chapter of the critique, divided into six sections – Ideological Challenges, Rooting of Divisive Violence, Hindutva: Revivalism of Caste Hierarchy, Women and Communal Politics, Emotive Issues to the Fore and Threats to Democracy – ...
Partition, Indo-Pak Relations and Kashmir is a book that says, the only solution to the Kashmir imbroglio can be and has to be peaceful. Looking at the issue in the context of the subcontinent’s partition, it notes how Indo-Pak relations are held hostage to Kashmir and the vice-versa. The book says, in the 21st century, the process of secularisation has remained incomplete in India, Pakistan (and Bangladesh) and fundamentalism and communalism are rampant in ...
From Last three Decades secularism has been one of the major points of debate in India. With the rise of politics in the name of religion, the concept of secularism has come under heavy criticism. To denigrate this concept words like pseudo secular and sickular have been coined. A shadow of this debate got reflected on the pages of Indian Journal of secularism, some more material was especially solicited to complete the theme. The essays compiled in the volume ...
India has been witnessing an intense debate over the concept of nationalism for the last few decades, especially with the Ram Temple issue and Babri demolition, though its roots lie in the colonial period when two types of nationalisms came up simultaneously. One was the secular-democratic Indian nationalism while the other was an idea based on religion, which in turn had two subsets, Hindu nationalism and Muslim nationalism, both of which had their roots in the ...
This volume, containing twelve papers, addresses the contemporary issue related to the campaign of Ghar Wapsi or home coming by Hindu nationalist groups. Examining the political motives behind the Hindu nationalist campaign to reconvert persons of disadvantaged castes and tribes, it discusses at length the position of Islam and Christianity in India.
Focusing on the sociology of conversions, it deals with the critical issues concerning religious conversions, ...
This compilation analyzes the terror attacks on 26/11 in Mumbai from various angles, based on the understanding that deeper issues are hidden behind every such tragedy. It discusses terrorism, law, Indo-Pak relations, the indigenous causes of terrorism in India, the role of the state, the pattern of investigations so far, the prevalent laws, the response of civic society, the role of the media, the unsolved puzzles and the need for a deeper inquiry into the ...
The rise of communalism in recent years as the major claimant to power in India politics has posed a serious challenge to the survival of democracy and is even threatening the fabric of the Constitution. Coupled with the fact that political discourse in the international arena has been increasingly using the language of religion, this phenomenon has posed a serious challenge to human rights movements worldwide. The 17 original essays in this volume have been ...
This compilation of essays, articles have been written over a period of time spanning around 5 years. They are a response to the threat of communal fascism in India. Since the decade of 1980s there has been a rise in the assertion and influence of communal issues on the political and social scene. These pieces written at various points of time try to understand these. To begin with political and social language laced in the garb of religion has come to the fore. ...
The question of co-existence between Hindus and non-Hindu communities poses the greatest challenge to Indian democracy and secularism. With far rights Hindutva organizations gaining ground and the spreading of anti-minority violence across the country the question needs to be debated more carefully. Indian Democracy, Pluralism and Minorities discusses some important aspect of the anti-minority violence and propaganda being spread by the RSS and its sister ...
The current times are full of insane acts of terror. All over the globe and also in India, acts of violence by political groups seeking "justice" or "revenge" are dime a dozen. Not a day passes when one does not hear about the death or innocents in one more such act in one or the other corner of the globe. Many a time one can make the correlations, which tell us the cause of terror and the underlying group involved. The attacks on Afghanistan, ...