In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Jose Saramago declared, “In this half-century, obviously governments have not morally done for human rights all that they should. The injustices multiply, the inequalities get worse, the ignorance grows, and the misery expands. This same schizophrenic humanity that has the capacity to send instruments to a planet to study the composition of its rocks can with indifference note the deaths of millions of people from starvation.

To go to Mars seems easier than going to the neighbour. Nobody performs her or his duties. Governments do not, because they do not know, they are not able or they do not wish, or because they are not permitted by those who effectively govern the world: The multinational and pluricontinental companies whose power – absolutely non-democratic – reduce to next to nothing what is left of the ideal of democracy…It is not to be expected that governments in the next 50 years will do it. Let us common citizens therefore speak up…Perhaps the world could turn a little better.”

The Versatile actor Kamal Haasan, completed his 50 years in Indian cinema. He still feels the coming decade will be the best period of his career.

“I am not the one to languish about what has been done. I am looking forward to the next 10 years which I hope will be the best years of my career,” the 55-year-old actor said after he was felicitated by Directorate of Film Festivals, which organised a three-day retrospective of his work.

Born on 7^th November 1954, Hassan made his debut as a child artiste in 1959 in “Kalathoor Kannamma” which fetched him the best child artist award.

Rabindranath Tagore attained early success in literature in his native Bengal. Though successful in all literary genres, he was first of all a great poet. With his translations of some of his poems he also became rapidly famous in the west. Among his fifty and odd popular volumes of poetry are the likes of Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], and Gitanjali (1910), which fetched him the Nobel prize for literature in 1913.

Besides being a great literatuer, those moderately informed about the life and works of the great son of India cannot doubt the greatness of this towering figure of human civilization. He loved his country and the countrymen; but he always had wider view of things and wanted the country, still under colonial rule, to grow, shedding certain narrow trappings.

Advisor, Food Security, MS Swami nadhan Research Foundation,

Visiting Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Dr. Balasaheb Ambedkar was among the most outstanding intellectuals of India in the twentieth century in the best sense of the word. The late Paul Baran, an eminent Marxist economist, had made a distinction in one of his essays between an‘intellect worker’ and an intellectual. The former is one who uses intellect for making a living whereas the latter is one who uses intellect for critical analysis and social transformation. Ambedkar fits Baran’s definition of an intellectual very well. He is also an outstanding example of what Gramsci called an organic intellectual who represents and articulates the interest of an entire social class.

Born on 15^th October, 1931 at Rameshwaram in Tamilnadu, Bharat Ratna Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam assumes the office of the President of the Republic of India on July 25, 2002.

From a humble beginning, Dr. Kalam had an unparalleled career as an Aerospace and Defence Scientist, leading the nation with a vision of “Developed India.” Dr. Kalam as an eminent Aeronautical Engineer, contributed for the development of India’s first Satellite launch vehicle SLV III, became the architect of Indian Guided Missile development programme, led to the successful Nuclear experiments and envisioned a road map for realising “Developed India” within 20 years.

Jawaharlal Nehru (November 14, 1889 – May 27, 1964), also called Pandit Nehru, was one of the most important leaders of the Indian Independence Movement and, as the Head of the Indian National Congress, became the first Prime Minister of India when India won its Independence on August 15, 1947.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is one of those rare personalities through whom the distinctions of the 20th century can be recognized and possibilities of the 21st century determined. He stood for a learning society through liberal, modern and universal education combining the humanism of Indian arts and the rationalism of western sciences, a society where the strong are just and the weak secure, where the youth is disciplined and the women lead a life of dignity – a non-violent, non-exploiting social and economic order. He was free India’s first Education Minister and guided the destinies of the Nation for eleven years.

The legendary Marxist leader Jyoti Basu is no more. But, he left behind a rich legacy for politics and governance of India. In an exclusive interview to ‘Frontline’ given few years ago, Jyoti Basu spoke at length about his life and times. We publish this for the benefit of our readers (Courtesy: Frontline)

Jyoti Basu, was the senior most leader of the CPI(M). Jyoti Basu was one of the tallest leaders of the Communist movement in India who was the Chief Minister of the Left Front government of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000. He was 95 years old.

Jyoti Basu became a Communist while studying law in Britain. He came in contact with the British Communist party. He joined the Communist Party of India on his return in 1940. He began working in the railway trade union movement and became an important functionary of the B.A. Railroad Workers Union and the All India Railwaymen’s Federation.  In 1946,he was elected to the Bengal legislative assembly from a railway constituency.

Marxist patriarch and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, who was battling for life in a hospital at Kolkata for the last fortnight, died on Sunday

Rabindranath Tagore is no more a monopoly of the Bengalees. The new copyright formulation ending the monopoly of Vishwabharati over Rabindranath Tagore’s literary and other creations has led to a better understanding of Tagore and his works. A visit to any book fair finds young people, before bookstands, picking up Tagore’s books in their own languages and in Hindi too.

It was Diwali once again at Pune’s ‘Kalashree’ in Navipeth with ‘rangolis’ and floral decorations adorning the road leading to the house. The rangolis were drawn early in the morning by a civil society organization Vidhayak and had inscriptions ‘mile sur hamara tumhara’. This was the way the music lovers of Pune greeted living legend, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, when an announcement was made by the Rashtrapati Bhavan, about him being conferred the ‘Bharat Ratna’ – the country’s highest civilian honour.

“Realization of Truth is not at all possible without Ahimsa (Non-violence). That is why it has been said that Ahimsa is the supreme Dharma (Law)”.

Mahatma Gandhi, 21.11.1944

The British rule had taken its roots firmly into the Indian soil, when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born. When he died, India had won complete Independence. Not only that he lived through this period but also he was one of the great freedom fighters who played a major role in achieving the much sought after goal. He achieved this with a extraordinary strategy of his own, through Satyagraha, an altogether non-violent method, full of love for everybody and devoid of hatred against any one.

There is no leader and there are no led. A leader, if one chooses to identify one, has to be a cultivator rather than a manufacturer. He has to provide the soil and the overall climate and the environment in which the seed can grow. One wants permissive individuals who do not have a compelling need to reassure themselves that they are leaders”- Vikram Sarabhai

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai’s name will remain inseparable from India’s space programme. It is well known that it was Dr. Sarabhai who put India on the international map in the field of space research. But he also made equally pioneering contributions in other fields such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, nuclear power, electronics and many others.

Few people have quietly changed the world for the better more than this rural lad from the mid-western state of Iowa in the United States.  The man in focus is Norman Borlaug, the Father of the ‘Green Revolution’, who died on September 12, 2009 at age 95. Norman Borlaug spent most of his 60 working years in the farmlands of Mexico, South Asia and later in Africa, fighting world hunger, and saving by some estimates up to a billion lives in the process. An achievement, fit for a Nobel Peace Prize.