The 21st century belongs to India such a dream is enticing many Indians. But there are too many nagging doubts about the realism of such a prospect. How can India blossom if over half our population continues to be poor and miserable, with millions under-nourished and driven to early> death? How can we embrace the future if so many regions and so many people are left behind or grow from bad to worse even as the national income or GDP races ahead? Ours is an ancient land and civilization, and we have inherited a rich body of thought material from our past.
The 21st century belongs to India such a dream is enticing many Indians. But there are too many nagging doubts about the realism of such a prospect. How can India blossom if over half our population continues to be poor and miserable, with millions under-nourished and driven to early> death? How can we embrace the future if so many regions and so many people are left behind or grow from bad to worse even as the national income or GDP races ahead? Ours is an ancient land and civilization, and we have inherited a rich body of thought material from our past.
Our forefathers gave the concept of zero to the world. Bordered by the Himalayas, the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, this sub-continent has had a long and rich experience with> philosophy and theories of economy and statecraft. However, we suffer from the colonial legacy of negating our heritage. The leaders of independent India in 1947 chose to retain the foundations of the British Indian state and the colonial notion of trusteeship. They chose not to make a break with the past, but to prolong its life. The perpetuation of European institutions and concepts of peace, order and good government, complemented by the so-called free market reforms in the present period, has led to an acute and deepening crisis of values in Indian society. The times are calling on enlightened Indian minds to make a clean break with the colonial legacy and with all forms of backwardness from the past. The need of the hour is to elaborate and develop modern Indian thought philosophy, political and economic theory so as to address the problem that stares us in the face. This is the problem of ending the arbitrariness of power and the colonial style plunder in new and varied forms. It is the problem of redefining the foundations and reconstituting the structure of the Indian polity and economy, based on modern Indian thought and consistent with the most advanced scientific knowledge internationally. This magazine, called Ghadar Jari Hai, is dedicated to this call of the times.
The struggle is alive for the Navnirman or reconstitution of India on the basis of a modern definition of democracy, and the principle that the State is duty bound to ensure prosperity and protection for all. A prosperous future requires us to overcome the poverty of material conditions as well as the poverty of thought in command of social life. This magazine is a forum for advancing the struggle in the realm of ideas, which is linked closely with the struggle to open the door to progress for Indian society. The inaugural issue was devoted to the lessons of the Ghadar of 1857, in honour of the 150th anniversary of that historic milestone in the political life of South Asia. We seek your support for this magazine. Just acknowledging your support after reading the magazine through a simple post card will itself be a shot in the arm for all of us who are pursuing this mission. Your subscription will be a clear vote of confidence and will add to our resolve to persist in this exciting task.
Address all your editorial correspondence to: S Raghavan
Email: jarihai@ghadar.org.in
Printed and published by K. Madhusudhan, on behalf of Lok Awaz Publishers
& Distributors.
Printed at: New Print Cottage, B-74, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2,
New Delhi-110 020
Published at: E-392, Sanjay Colony, Okhla Phase-II, New Delhi- 110 020
Editor: S Raghavan
Layout and Design: Surkhraj Kaur, Santosh, Anand