Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Peace-loving People of Indore Rebuff Communal Forces

  5 April 2015

  by Vineet Tiwari
  Is it wrong for people of different communities to co-exist peacefully and celebrate each other’s festivals? Is it a sin for people to believe that the greatest faith on earth is humanity?
  On the other hand is this something to be proud of that in our effort to make our own religion great, we have to insult other religions? Is this good politics that instead of employment opportunities our unemployed youth should be handed swords and trishuls? That instead of providing (…)

• What is Fundamentalism?

  5 April 2015, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Fundamentalism has become a much-used term today—in politics and in the academia. And there are in vogue various types of the so-called fundamentalists—political, religious and cultural.
  But before cataloguing these various tribes of fundamentalists, it is important to clarify what precisely is meant by fundamentalism. The Oxford English Dictionary says the term, fundamental, pertains to “the basis or groundwork, going to the root of the matter”. But the word (…)

• Lee deserved all the praise he got. But his idea of prosperity without freedom can never win

  5 April 2015, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  The way the world reacted to Lee Kuan Yew’s passing was a measure of the greatness he had achieved as the Prime Minister of Singapore. His lifelong disappointment was that he did not have a country big enough to match his vision. He made up by turning Singapore into a world showpiece, marked by efficiency, beauty, cleanliness and absence of perceptible corruption. In his later years he also achieved the status of a philosopher-king whose views were sought by other countries, (…)

• China’s High Stakes in Yemen Conflict

  5 April 2015, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The level of interest in Beijing on the developments in Yemen is apparently very high. This is only to be expected, arguably, considering that China depends on the Gulf countries for half of all its crude oil imports, apart from having wide-ranging relationships with the countries of the region, which have been steadily expanding and deepening. The ‘Road and Belt’ initiative gives an added strategic dimension insofar as the Silk Route passes through the Red Sea.
  Indeed, China will be (…)

• How do we Live Down the Shame of Hashimpura?

  30 March 2015

  EDITORIAL
  There are enough flip-flops in the Union Government’s approach to the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill. While it is determined to push the legislation through even by calling a joint session of both Houses of Parliament, as conveyed by the PM himself, other Ministers like M. Venkaiah Naidu holding the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio are still trying to appease the Opposition as also dissidents within the ruling NDA coalition by stating that they were open to considering any (…)

• Miscarriage of Justice in Hashimpura

  30 March 2015, by Vidya Bhushan Rawat

  One of the most famous lines on the official All India Radio news bulletins during communal disturbances used to be ‘Sthiti tanavpurn lekin niyantran me hain (the situation is tense but under control)’ and police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in the ‘sensitive’ areas. It was well known to us as what ‘samvedansheel kshetra’ or ‘sensitive areas’ meant. Most of these ‘sensitive areas’ were the Muslim localities in the walled cities, almost ghettoised in the aftermath of each ‘riot’ (…)

• The Litmus Test

  30 March 2015, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The menace of communalism looms large in this country today perhaps more than at any time before. With all the dire warnings being sounded repeatedly against the danger of destabilisation, the government so far has done very little to halt the advance of vicious communal hatred leading to orgies of violence in different parts of the country. It is amazing that while the Prime Minister concedes that there has been a deterioration in the communal situation—as he did at (…)

• Fly High or Crash Land

  30 March 2015, by N V K Murthy

  The new BJP Government has placed its first complete Budget before Parliament. It shows great hope. The Finance Minister has anticipated a growth rate of 8.5 per cent. The Economist of February 21-27 has an editorial on the subject with the title “India’s chance to Fly”. The editorial has suggested reforms in three areas: Land, Labour and Power. These areas are crucial but one may not agree entirely with the direction of changes suggested.
  The editorial recommends that the acquisition of (…)

• Tedious Neighbours

  30 March 2015, by Kuldip Nayar

  Our neighbouring countries are getting curiouser and curiouser. Pakistan is determined to free Zia-ur Rahman Lakhvi who had masterminded the Mumbai attack in 2008 when some 165 people were killed at Hotel Taj through the sea, near the Gateway of India. The court has released him due to lack of evidence. This is despite the clinching proof that India has provided against him.
  Either Pakistan is whetting the evidence that New Delhi provides or the judge hearing the case has been under (…)

• Vedic Science: The hue of Saffron Ideology

  30 March 2015

  by Navneet Sharma, Pradeep Nair and Harikrishnan B.
  “Ancient Sanskrit literature is full of descriptions of flying machines — Vimanas.... [T]he scientist sages Agastya and Bharadwaja had developed the lore of aircraft construction. Aeronautics or Vaimaanika Shastra is a part of Yantra Sarvasva of Bharadwaja. This is also known as Brihadvimaana Shastra...The knowledge of aeronautics is described in Sanskrit in 100 sections, eight chapters, 500 principles and 3000 slokas. Great sage (…)