Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• My Take on Award Wapsi

  13 December 2015

  by Mathew Varghese
  Award wapsi has suddenly become fashionable among the writers and artists. The number is growing steadily. There is so much intolerance how can we be silent?—is the rhetoric. Don’t you call it a rhetoric! It is a rational and logical way to protest against the intolerance in society. But why now? You gladly took it because it was the previous government and now that the government has changed you are finding an excuse to embarrass the government.
  But my concerns are (…)

• Resurgence of the Communist Revolutionary Force in Bihar

  13 December 2015

  by Arun Srivastava
  In globalised India, the Left appears to be in a state of inertia; losing initiative and ideological mooring. With the state abandoning its responsibility towards the people, its inclusive growth and empowerment, the Left forces, the CPI-M, CPI, and others, have lost the will to intervene and organise the poor. On the plea of introducing reforms and promoting rapid economic growth, the ruling classes have adopted the strategy of refashioning the role of the state and (…)

• Bihar Election Results: Time to Introspect!

  13 December 2015

  by Sudhanshu Tripathi
  The stunning victory of the “Mahagathbandhan” in Bihar has left the main Opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA, shell-shocked, which will have to review its strategy that failed to convince the electorate. Indeed, it is high time to ponder as to what can be the fate of democracy in India and how can the country present itself in the comity of nations as a modern, liberal and progressive society as well as polity.
  Although the results of Bihar Assembly (…)

• Unfortunate Woman

  13 December 2015, by Sangeeta Mall

  WOMEN’S WORLD
  ‘Oh poor India!... How sad! The country, whose male population is unkind, unreligious and unaware of the distinction between good and evil and doesn’t care about justice and fairness and where abiding by rituals is the chief preoccupation of religion, should not give birth to girls!’ In the 19th century, noted social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar gave this lament. Have things changed much since then?
  Last year I happened to spend a few hours at Dubai Airport. As I sat (…)

• Revisiting the World of Keya

  13 December 2015, by Arup Kumar Sen

  Keya Chakraborty (1942-1977) was a legendary actress on the Bengali stage in the late 1960s and 1970s. She died a mysterious death while shooting for a Bengali film, Jeevan Jey Rakam (Life as it is). She jumped into the Ganges from the boat in a particular scene and was washed away. The body was recovered with multiple injuries.
  I did not have a chance to see Keya Chakra-borty’s acting. I saw her once as a school boy on the Annual Sports Day of Scottish Church College where she taught in (…)

• Human Rights: Basic Issues

  13 December 2015, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Human Rights Day is observed on December 10 every year commemorating the day, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To mark the occasion we are reproducing the following article N.C. wrote twentythree years ago.
  The government’s decision to set up a National Human Rights Commission is a significant indication of its being able to read the signs of the times. The Prime Minister has made the eloquent claim about (…)

• NREGA in Punjab — A Cause for Concern

  13 December 2015

  by S.C. Sharma
  The following is a study based on the results of a field survey undertaken by the author for the Research Project “Impact of NREG Scheme on Rural Economy of Punjab: A Case Study of Three Districts“. The project was funded by the UGC, New Delhi.
  Introduction
  Numerous studies have been undertaken to assess the impact of the NREGA scheme on poverty, gender equity and asset creation among all the States having implemented the scheme including Punjab. The review of literature (…)

• Showcasing Challenges before the Kerala Economy in Post-Reform Period

  13 December 2015

  BOOK REVIEW
  by Renji George Amballoor
  Kerala Economy and its Emerging Issues by V. Mathew Kurien and Raju John; Sahitya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society Limited, Kottayam; 2014; pp. 400; Rs 350.
  Kerala Economy and its Emerging Issues is a comprehensively edited book on the dynamics of the Kerala economy in the post neo-classical era by Dr V Mathew Kurien and Raju John. The book provides the readers with in-depth insights on the emerging economic dynamics of Kerala. The editors have (…)

• Why So Tolerant?

  13 December 2015

  by Ayaz Ahmad
  The heated debate on so-called intolerance and Award Wapsi keeps throwing up an obvious question, why now? What has happened after the ascent of the BJP/RSS to power at the Centre and in some States since 2014 to cause such widespread alarm in the citizenry? One explanation is that those protesting against the growing atmosphere of intolerance in the country are inherently opposed to the idea of the BJP/RSS and Modi in power. But for once, an explanation can be suggested by (…)

• Erdogan’s Game and Turkey’s Western Allies

  13 December 2015

  by Hasan Hamidullah
  By now it is getting increasingly clear by the day that the Turkish Government of President Recip Tayyap Erodogan is doing everything possible to help the Islamic State in every way thereby exposing the double-standards of a key member of the NATO military grouping that is pledged to fight the IS tooth and nail, especially after the deadly arrest attacks in Paris master-minded by the IS.
  Recently Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fiden made a startling statement. On (…)