Mainstream Weekly

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• Shadow of 1965 War

  20 September 2015, by Kuldip Nayar

  Democracies celebrate Magna Carta, not war victory. Such actions only encourage Bonapartism and, in no way, strengthen the people’s say. I was dismayed to see a full-page advertisement in newspapers to commemorate the victory in the 1965 war against Pakistan. The advertisement said:
  “The Indo-Pak War of 1965, which began on 05 August and ended on 23 September, is one of the biggest tank battles since World War-II. Pakistan launched troops inside Kashmir under Operation Gibraltar in early (…)

• Bihar’s Momentous Onus

  20 September 2015, by Badri Raina

  How often in India’s ancient and more recent history have the people of Bihar played a decisive role? And thrown up men and women of great persipicacity and doggedness to stand before events and portents of grave consequence? Inumerable times, the evidence suggests.
  Another such time beckons the distinguished electorate of Bihar to a trial on behalf of the Republic. There are many who are busy to grab their allegiance, through means fair and foul, but one has the faith that such allegiance (…)

• Sangh’s Chessboard and Hostile Secular Forces

  20 September 2015

  by Arun Srivastava
  Nitish faces the most potentthreat of losing the crucial election to the Bihar Assembly from his secular friends than his communal adversaries. At a time when it appeared that Nitish was high and going great guns, came the psychological set back in the form of the Samajwadi Party refusing to contest the elections and withdrawing from the election arena.
  The justification cited by the Samajwadi leadership not to go to polls as alliance partner is indeed ridiculous. Ram (…)

• The Future of the Indian Republic

  20 September 2015, by Barun Das Gupta

  The Preamble to the Constitution says that India is a ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic`. The Preamble is part of the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution, which—as the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment in the Keshavananda Bharati case ordained—cannot be altered. It conceptualised the ‘basic structure doctrine’ and recognised the inherent power of the judiciary to review and, if necessary, strike down any amendment to the Constitution enacted by Parliament which seeks to (…)

• Religious Census data May Not Panic the Hindus

  20 September 2015, by John Dayal

  The senior journalist and raconteur A.J. Philip once bitingly wrote: “The population of Christians in the colony I and my wife lived in during our stay in Bhopal jumped up by 50 per cent when our first son was born.” They were, till then, the only Christians in the residential complex in the capital of Madhya Pradesh. That, in a nutshell, is what is meant by facts, statistics and lies.
  So there was nothing surprising at the response of the media when the government in a cryptic press note (…)

• Most Undemocratic Act

  20 September 2015, by Rajindar Sachar

  Haryana Chief Minister Khattar has come out with most undemocratic and unconsti-tutional legislation—changes in the Haryana Panchayat Act, namely, that the candidates keen on contesting the forthcoming gram panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad elections in Haryana will now have to produce their Class X certificates while women and SCs will need a Class VIII certificate to be eligible to contest.
  In unashamed defence of this most undemocratic step, the government is putting forth (…)

• Europe — Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: A Brief Overview of The Past 100 Years

  20 September 2015

  by Purusottam Bhattacharya
  Europe has been in the news of late-for the wrong reasons. The continent is afflicted with the constant threat of terrorist attacks some of which were witnessed in the recent past. The sovereign debt crisis, particularly involving Greece, has been continuing unabated though a temporary solution has recently been found. However the headline grabbing problem which has deprived many of the leaders of the European Union of their sleep is the massive influx of (…)

• Understanding National Politics Post-2014

  20 September 2015

  BOOK REVIEW
  by Ranbir Singh
  India’s 2014 Elections, A Modi-led BJP Sweep by Paul Wallace (ed.); Sage Publications, New Delhi; 2015; pages xxiv + 427; Price: Rs 1250.
  This book is a continuation of the earlier election studies, Indian Politics and the 1998 Elections: Regionalization, Hindutava and State Politics (1999); India’s 1999 Elections and the 20th Century Politics (2003), India’s 2004 Elections: Grassroots and National Perspectives (2007) and India: 2009 Elections Coalition (…)

• Eternal Vigilance Necessary to Protect Our Democracy

  20 September 2015

  by Mahi Pal Singh
  Within 15 months of coming to power at the Centre, the Narendra Modi Government has amply shown its true colours. If we compare what Narendra Modi, the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP, and the party’s President Amit Shah, had promised to the voters with what the government has done so far, the wide difference between the promises and implementation comes out clearly. Modi had made a tall claim to bring back black money stashed in foreign accounts and put in every (…)

• Role of Women in Social Movements across the World: Case Study of Telangana

  20 September 2015

  WOMEN’S WORLD
  by Sreerupa Saha
  Introduction: Note on Movement and Gender
  Movements are not themselves actors, move-ments are something that people create to press for social change. They are spaces that are made by people to allow relationships between them that can challenge power. Social movements are generally seen as phenomena of the modern era and industrialised society, whether located in the “First” world or not. Industrialisation and urbanisation, technological advancements, (…)