Articles by P Radhakrishnan

This paper looks at the interface of religion and globalisation. It points out that the major religions of the world are being used as purveyors of the globalisation agenda and this is often accompanied by an unprecedented flow of funds into the third world. The major consequences of globalisation have been: the transmogrification of traditional religions and belief systems; the beginning of the disintegration of the traditional social fabrics and shared norms by consumerism, cyber-culture, newfangled religions and changing work ethics and work rhythms; the fast spreading anomie forcing an ever increasing number of individuals to fall back upon the easily accessible pretentious religious banalities, and attributing to religion the creation and acceleration of extremist, fundamentalist and terrorist tendencies in the third world countries.

It is dismaying that there has hardly been any reaction in the media to the order of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court against the publication of news reports and comments on the Ayodhya issue by the print and electronic media

Due to a lack of political will and sensitivity, implementation of the provisions for employment reservation for dalits has been far from satisfactory. In Tamil Nadu too, dalits have suffered from the lax approach of the state towards extending reservation benefits. If this situation has to be corrected several issues need to be urgently considered, including dalits' awareness of their rights, sensitising concerned groups, and above all investing in education so that dalits can reduce their dependence on the state in the quest for social equality.

Though communal representation and reservations are often identified with the non-brahmin movement and the Indian Constitution respectively, the evolution of the non-brahmin movement itself was preceded by certain intricate and elaborate processes of over half a century These processes had a direct bearing on communal representation and reservations at the ideational and pragmatic levels as functional imperatives of the colonial administration.