Praful Bidwai

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Praful Bidwai (born 1949) is an Indian journalist, political analyst, and activist. His analysis and activism lean heavily towards Marxism.

Contents

[edit] Journalist and columnist

After studying at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay (he dropped out of college), Bidwai's first notable work in journalism was as a columnist for Economic and Political Weekly of Bombay, beginning in 1972. He was later an editor of Business India and a special correspondent for Financial Express of Bombay. He served as editor of The Times of India between 1981 and 1993, eventually becoming its Senior Editor. During this time he was The Times' most published journalist. Bidwai is currently a columnist whose stories are published regularly in the Hindustan Times, The Tribune, Rediff.com, Frontline, the Kashmir Times, and more than twenty other newspapers. He frequently writes for the international news agency IPS, and has also contributed to Pakistani publications including The Nation. Bidwai authors a regular column, "From the World's Most Dangerous Place", on the website Antiwar.com.

[edit] Peace activism

Bidwai is also a veteran peace activist with anti-America moorings. He helped found the Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament (MIND), based in New Delhi, is a member of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists against Proliferation, and is one of the leaders of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, India. Along with Achin Vanaik, Bidwai is the author of New Nukes: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament (Interlink, 1999). In 2000, Bidwai and Vanaik were awarded the Sean McBride International Peace Prize by the International Peace Bureau, a leftist group, in recognition of their work opposing nuclear weapons development in South Asia (see the press communique from the International Peace Bureau). Praful Bidwai is a fellow of the Transnational Institute.

[edit] Criticism

Critics often claim that his anti-nuclear crusade is restricted to India while ignoring the nuclear abilities of its two hostile neigbors, the Islamic republic of Pakistan and Communist China. His bias is attributed to him being a self-acclaimed Marxist. Increasingly, many younger people are put off by his tentency to paint everything in a overtly Marxist light. This has led to a drop in his popularity as a writer.

[edit] Books

  • "South Asia on a Short Fuse. Nuclear Politics and the Future of Global Disarmament" (Co-author with Achin Vanaik) Oxford University Press, India, 1999

In the US, the book has been published as: "New Nukes. India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament" (Slightly different from the OUP volume in editing style and number of appendices) Interlink Publishing, USA, 1999

  • "Testing Times. The Global Stake in a Nuclear Test Ban" (Co-author with Achin Vanaik) Dag Hammerskjöld Foundation, Uppsala, Sweden 1996
  • "Religion, Religiosity and Communalism" (Co-editor with Harbans Mukhia and Achin Vanaik) South Asia Books, October 1996
  • "India Under Siege. Challenges Within and Without" (With Muchkund Dubey, Anuradha Chenoy and Arun Ghosh) South Asia Books, November 1995
  • "Atoms for Peace: A Failed Promise" In: Survey of the Environment '99, The Hindu, 1999
  • "India's Nuclear Daze. The Domestic Politics of Nuclearization" (With Achin Vanaik) In: Testing the Limits, TNI/IPS Amsterdam/Washington, August 1998
  • "Nuclear India: A Short History" In: Out of Nuclear Darkness. The Indian Case for Disarmament, MIND (Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament), New Delhi, 1998
  • "Communalism and the Democratic Process in India" (With Achin Vanaik) In: Jochen Hippler (eds). The Democratisation of Disempowerment TNI/Pluto Press, 1995
  • "India and Pakistan" (With Achin Vanaik) In: Security with Nuclear Weapons New York, Oxford University Press, 1991

[edit] External links

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