Editorial: A New Venture

We are launching our enlarged and revamped Sunday Review at a most difficult period in the country’s history. The nation has been through trying times before – the Chinese attack in 1962, the war with Pakistan in 1965, the drought in 1966 and 1967, the Bangladesh crisis in 1971 and the emergency in 1975. As in the past it will no doubt come out of this ordeal with its will to overcome obstacles and to preserve its democracy intact. But in a sense the problems this time are more intractable and the environment more adverse. At no time before since 1947 has the country faced a graver threat to its long-term unity than that posed by the agitation in Assam whatever its immedi­ate outcome. At no time before has a central pillar of political democracy been in such a state of near-collapse as the party system today. At no time before has the future of the country been seen to be so dependent on the good sense, skill, resolve and dedication of one individual. At no time before has the neighborhood been in such turbulence. The 1980’s threaten to be uncertain and troubled. Such a situation calls for social peace and national consensus. Neither is likely to materialize. Up to a point economic and social growth sharpen conflicts. This places a special obligation on newspapers like ours to provide more comprehensive and intelligible information on what is happening in the country and the world, to promote national debates on important social and political issues and to ensure that these discussions are neither raucous nor desultory. We have been trying to discharge these obligations to the best of our ability. But for sometime we have felt that it is necessary to widen the scope of our effort, especially in respect of the magazine section on Sunday, when generally everyone has more time to read and reflect. We present the result in the hope that this will meet the expectations and needs of our readers. As this week, the fare will be mixed. In addition to national and international affairs, it will touch on various aspects of life – the arts and literature, science and technology, industry and commerce, medicine, nature, fashions and even astrology. To repeat a cliché, we wish to inform, provoke and entertain.