Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Women, Right to Food and Role of Panchayats

  11 October 2014, by Bidyut Mohanty

  WOMEN‘S WORLD
  Background: Need for Food Security
  The Indian state has the responsibility of raising ‘the level of nutrition and standard of living and to improve the public health’1 in terms of Article 47 of the Directive Principles of State Policy. But, in spite of having a relatively high growth rate of the economy in recent years, India’s performance in eradicating hunger and malnutrition is quite dismal compared to even the Sub-Shaharan region of Africa. In the Sub-Sahara region, the (…)

• Panchayats and Disaster Management: Future Perspective

  11 October 2014

  by Mahi Pal
  The worst calamity that took place in Kashmir has warned us of the need to take into account the future possibilities of such kind of disasters seriously. It has become even more important when climate change has become a living reality. India is vulnerable to a number of natural as well as man-made disasters on account of its unique climate and socio-economic conditions. It is highly vulnerable to floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches and forest (…)

• The Unique State of Tamil Nadu

  11 October 2014

  by T. Sadashivam
  The following article was written before the Court’s rejection of Jayalalithaa’s bail plea.
  Since last year, a number of important events took place in our society, especially in the field of governance, and one such event was the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India on July 10, 2013 in the case of Lily Thomas versus Union of India where it ruled that any Member of Parliament (MP), Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) or Member of a Legislative Council (…)

• What the Water Said

  11 October 2014, by Badri Raina

  When the water came, sprawling
  Underred at its own
  Even intent, it said, “I am come
  To remind you that rich, poor, man
  Woman, or child, old or young,
  Literate or illiterate, Sunni or
  Shia or Ahmedia, low caste or high,
  Tantric, Vaishnav, or Trika, living
  Upstream or downstream, or by
  Hillside resort, nationalist or
  Separatist, you are all the same.
  Do see that the rich man’s, the
  God-man’s, the beggar man’s bone
  Bloats without distinction
  In the waters of (…)

• When People Aren’t Equal, How Can They Be Free?

  11 October 2014, by Sangeeta Mall

  In a very small corner of the world, in my neighbourhood, which is an island of privilege in the ocean of squalor called Mumbai, a debate rages. It is about whether service providers like nannies, domestic help, charwomen, cooks and chauffeurs, colloquially known as maids and drivers, should be made to use separate elevators in our condominium. There is no sense of ‘infringement of human rights’ in this debate. The elite do not find anything bizarre in this discussion. They find nothing (…)

• Bullet Train, Smart Cities and Development Priorities

  11 October 2014, by Bharat Dogra

  Within the first 100 days of the Modi Government some symbols of development priorities have been publicised widely. If in urban development the creation of 100 smart cities is the biggest talking point, in railways it is the proposed introduction of bullet trains which is widely promoted. Following the Prime Minister’s Japan visit, it has been announced that Japanese help—financial and technical—will be readily available for these two schemes much favoured by our Prime Minister, Narendra (…)

• PM in New York and Washington

  6 October 2014, by SC

  In his tongue-in-cheek description of the PM, BJP patriarch L.K. Advani (who has been left out in the cold by his former protege now running the country) recently observed that Narendra Modi “is a great event-manager”. A remarkable showman or an impressive event-manager, Modi used his gifted rhetorical and oratorical skills to enthrall the packed audience of primarily Gujarati NRIs at the Madison Square Garden in New York on September 28. That indeed was the high point of his trip to the US, (…)

• India feels Short-changed

  6 October 2014, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to the US has been a stunning success from his point of view, but what has India got in the bargain? Modi is not India—at least, not yet. But Modi nonetheless confused his political interests with the country’s. The country feels cheated, as he brings back with him this appalling document called the ‘Joint Statement’ as the outcome of his five-day sojourn in the US.
  The picture that is bound to be silhouetted in memory for a long time will be that (…)

• Border is More Complicated after Xi’s Visit

  6 October 2014, by Kuldip Nayar

  My hunch is that Gujarat’s map of India showing Arunachal Pradesh with dotted lines, suggesting a disputed territory, was at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gujarat is his backyard and he can have anything done there. Even the contradiction was half-hearted and left to further “investi-gation”.
  What Modi probably tried to convey to the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping was that he was willing to keep Arunachal Pradesh as a disputed territory provided there was an (…)

• Relevance of Gandhiji’s Message Today

  6 October 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 115th birth anniversary on October 2, 2014 we are reproducing the following article of N.C. and carrying a few relevant articles on Gandhiji.
  On October 2 this year India is celebrating the hundred and twentyfifth birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Government of India has set up a special committee studded with VIPs of different denominations and is chalking out an extensive programme of functions which will spread over a (…)