Shastri Ramachandaran

Born 1953, Shastri Ramachandaran is a journalist and writer contributing to the media -- print, radio and television -- for over 29 years. He has written and commented on a range of national, regional and international subjects from politics, human rights and ethnicity to social and cultural development, democracy and media. A keen observer of events and developments in South Asia, his areas of special interest in the region are Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Until 2004, he was Senior Assistant Editor with The Times of India in New Delhi. Earlier he was Editor of The Sunday Mail and also worked in leading English dailies such as in India such as Indian Express and Deccan Herald.

From 2004 he is associate editor of The Tribune in Chandigarh.

He is a current affairs commentator and scriptwriter for Indian and foreign newspapers, radio and television. His TV programmes include an eight-part serial on looking at 50 years of Indian politics through cartoons and cartoonists.

Associated with journalism education in India and Europe, he was Head, Times Centre for Media studies, and is a frequent participant and lecturer at international workshops and seminars on media and media-related themes.

Among the papers and publications to his credit (as co-author) are a monograph on Civil and Human Rights of Agricultural Labourers in Tamil Nadu and Media, Conflict and Peace. His most recent publication in 2002 is the book State of Nepal which he has co-edited.

Address	The China Daily Beijing
Phone	+86 -10 -64995144 (work) +86 -10 -64991755 (pvt) Cell: +86 -1371 8737 263
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E-mail & website	shastriji@hotmail.com shastrichina@gmail.com

Articles by Shastri Ramachandaran

Shastri Ramachandaran, December 27, 2011
India unwilling to be drawn into US-China conflicts

Shatri Ramachandaran, December 20, 2011
India set to take lead on abolishing nukes

Shastri Ramachandaran, December 10, 2011
Will China attack India again. And are we ready?

Shastri Ramachandaran, August 6, 2011
Impressions from an intimate enemy
Indian TFF Associate visits Pakistan...

Shastri Ramachandaran, May 16, 2011
Post-Osama, Pakistan may be more unrelenting on FMCT, the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty

Shastri Ramachandaran, May 18, 2011
Pakistan leans on China in face of US slams

Shastri Ramachandaran, May 15, 2011
Pakistan's generals in their labyrinth

Shastri Ramachandaran, Tribune of India, April 24, 2009
Change in Nepal - Starting trouble for Maoists
Nepal needs both democratic stability and peace. Thwarting the Maoists’ prerogative to lead a government would endanger stability. Letting the Maoists run away with a government without meeting the democratic pre-requisite of doing away with their extra-parliamentary props would put peace, and pluralism, at risk.

Shastri Ramachandaran, Tribune of India, April 24, 2008
Reprocessing democracy
India, Nepal have to re-envision relationship
The Maoists winning the democratic right to lead Nepal is more than an electoral event. It is a development of enormous significance for not only the people of Nepal but also the rest of the world, particularly India and South Asia. The Maoists put democracy on trial and they, in turn, were tested by the democratic process. Both the Maoists and democracy have won resoundingly. This is as much a paradigm shift for democracy as for the Maoists.

Shastri Ramachandaran, March 4, 2008
Trouble in the Terai - Nepal’s next big problem

Shastri Ramachandaran, The Tribune India, January 7, 2008
End of truce - Sri Lanka declares a new war

Shastri Ramachandaran, October 30, 2007
Nepal on knife-edge - Peace process being cut to pieces
The message is that henceforth the Maoists will call the shots; that they are not bound by the agreements to which they are a party. And, if they continue to swear by the peace process it is only to bind the SPA to abide by the terms the Maoists dictate.

Shastri Ramachandaran, The Tribune, January 14, 2007
Development as delusion
“Marvellous falsehood, most pleasant”
Review of The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith by Gilbert Rist. "In a world where discourse is dominated by simplistic arguments for and against globalisation between market cheerleaders and protesting demonstrators, Rist compels critical reflection, to liberate the mind from a single all-consuming delusion."

Shastri Ramachandaran, January 6, 2007
Nepal Promises, potentials and pitfalls (3 articles)

Shastri Ramachandaran , TFF Associate, October 31, 2006
Jollygood Bollywood. Munnabhai rescues Mahatma
The film demystifies Gandhism, strips it of philosophical and ideological overload to its bare essential of how satyagraha can be invested with meaning and result in everyday life. This has given Gandhigiri and the film a cult-like status, making it a rage among the younger generation.

Shastri Ramachandaran, September 9, 2006
Island of strife. India must avert war in Sri Lanka
The question “What can India do?” smacks of despair. What India cannot do is known: India cannot mediate, supply combat equipment or directly engage the LTTE. But India can prevail upon the GoSL to call off its ground and aerial attacks immediately, and deprive the LTTE of a chance to launch the fourth Eelam war. New Delhi should invite Norway and the other co-chairs of the peace process and get them to publicly declare that the (dead) process is actually dead.

Shastri Ramachandaran, September 9, 2006
German Angst. Günther Grass has already punished himself
Germans known for their angst also have, like the Japanese, a sense of honour. It is this sense of honour that may have driven Gunter Grass to commit this hara-kiri of sorts. There’s no need to vilify and pillory him when he has inflicted so much on himself.

Shastri Ramachandaran, June 29, 2006
Himalayan Challenge: Nepal's road to a new democracy
The disarming of the Maoists, the role, size and complexion of Nepal's army, the invitation to the UN to monitor and manage arms and armies of both sides and, above all, the Maoists being a part of government are issues that could puncture the prevalent euphoria. New Delhi, Washington, the UK and the EU, has been silent with disapproval of the government's "giving in" so readily to the Maoists...

A review of War and Peace: Armed Struggle and Peace Efforts of Liberation Tigers by Anton Balasingham

New imperialism: Emerging circles of unreason

Sri Lanka's path to peace

New Delhi marches to Bush tune

Demokratiet er blevet kuppet

New Delhi marcherer til Bushs melodi

Tamilske tigre afslutter fredsnadver med et mæthedens ræb

Nyimperialisme søger syndebuk

Valg betyder ikke demokrati

Tamil Tigers out of the Woods

Foreign reminders of home territories

Sweden - the shrinking of a Third Way pioneer

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