Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Indian Math Nobel Laureate joins Protest against Arun Shourie

  31 July 2015

  by Subhankar Gupta
  Prof Sathamangalam Ranga Iyengar Srinivasa Varadhan, the greatest living Indian Amerian mathematician and recipient of the Abel prize, considered as the Nobel Prize in Mathematics, awarded from Oslo, has joined the near-5000 signatories demanding a probe against dismissal of the Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Prof Bimal Roy, by the ISI Chairman, Dr Arun Shourie. Varadhan, who is one of the youngest recipients of the Abel Prize (even before the Nobel Laureate in (…)

• Thirty Years of Narmada struggle

  31 July 2015

  Call upon the Government of India to Review Decision on Sardar Sarovar Project and Expedite Rehabilitation as per Law and Judicial Orders
  That the struggle of the people in the Narmada valley is symbolic of the struggle of millions of common people across the country and is a united fight to sustain peace, justice and democracy in these trying times, was the conclusion that emerged out of a day-long Convention on the eve of 30 years of relentless struggle by the Narmada Bachao Andolan in (…)

• Why A Case Against Kancha Ilaiah?

  31 July 2015, by Ambrose Pinto

  Professor Kancha Ilaiah is the Director of the Centre for Social Exclusion in the Maulana Azad University in Hyderabad. All through his life as an academician, he has ignited minds by raising important questions on culture, caste and spirituality. The police have now booked a case on him for an article he wrote in Andhra Jyothi, a Telugu newspaper, on whether God is a democrat or not, on the complaint by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad that the article has hurt their religious sentiments. Is it (…)

• Untouchability, Political and Social

  31 July 2015

  COMMUNICATION
  PM Narendra Modi said in Jammu on July 17, 2015 that there is no untouchability in politics. He was referring to coalitions with different parties at various point of time. But untouchability is very much alive in the society. Nobody does anything to fight the evil.
  Is untouchability acceptable in the social sphere then? If Modi really wants to bring in good days and change in the country, and if he is sincere to strengthen the country, he should keep removal of social (…)

• Naked Display of Haughtiness and Arrogance

  26 July 2015, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  As one watches the Opposition blockade of Parliament for three successive days demanding that the External Affairs Minister and the CMs of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh first tender their resignations from the posts they are currently holding as a prelude to a thorough investigation into the scams relating to Lalitgate and Vyapam before any worthwhile discussion on the issues involved can be held, one cannot but refer to the prognosis made in these columns precisely a fortnight (…)

• The Unsung, but Not Unmourned, Death of a Journalist: The life and times of Pradyot Lal

  26 July 2015, by John Dayal

  TRIBUTE
  One can’t see memorial lectures in his honour, nor medallions at convocations in schools of journalism. Some would say he wasted his life. He was not a celebrity. And most young contract workers in the print and electronic media of today would perhaps have not even heard of Pradyot Lal who died earlier in July. But one has to be careful that a requiem to him does not become a dirge on the death of honest, critical, romantic journalism where truth still matters and the ordinary (…)

• Stray Thoughts after Pradyot’s Death: Lal salaam!

  26 July 2015

  by Manjula Lal
  The following is a piece written for Mainstream after journalist Pradyot Lal’s sudden demise by his wife, also a well-known journalist who is a Consulting Editor of Tehelka.
  Can the state of a nation be seen through the prism of an individual’s life? Or, to put it more bluntly, can a philosophical postmortem pinpoint socio-economic causes for an untimely death? It may seem a bit presumptuous, especially since Delh-based Pradyot Lal, 58, was no leading light in his chosen (…)

• Respect Rights of Political Prisoners

  26 July 2015, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  Serious concern was expressed recently by the judiciary at the serious health problems faced by political prisoners like Kobad Ghandy and G.N. Saibaba. First court orders were given for ending numerous harassments caused to Kobad Ghandy (who suffers from several ailments) in Tihar Jail which were leading to steady deterioration in his health. Later on June 10, the Bombay High Court issued notice to the State Government of Maharashtra and sought a report on the deteriorating (…)

• Destablised Middle-East

  26 July 2015, by Harish Chandola

  The Islamic State (IS) has created a support base in Iraq and Syria. When its fighters get bombed and ousted from one place, they appear in another, as happened in April when their fighters were driven out of the city of Tikrit in Iraq, to appear in Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp on the putskirts of the Syrian capital of Damascus, and again when they were ousted from the city of Ramadi in Iraq, on May 15, they appeared five days later to seize Palmyra, in Syria.
  The total strength of (…)

• Growing Threat of Islamic State for Central Asia

  26 July 2015

  by R.G. Gidadhubli
  Cooperation and coordination to deal with threats of terrorism and extremism, especially from the rapid rise of the Islamic State (IS), have been discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the leaders of the five Central Asian countries during his visit to those states in the second week of July 2015. Moreover, at the SCO Summit, held in the Russian city of Ufa, the issue of growing threats of terrorism was also discussed.
  In view of this it is necessary to (…)