Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Tragedy in Donbas Sky and Ukraine Crisis

  26 July 2014, by Arun Mohanty

  The Malaysian aircraft crash on July 17 over the Donbas sky in Ukraine that caused death to all the 298 passengers and crew members of the flight is no doubt a serious tragedy of huge magnitude. But playing dirty politics around the tragedy and using it as a weapon in the geopolitical game is absolutely immoral and obnoxious. The blame-game surrounding the incident is so intense and unprecedented that it appears as if some forces were just waiting for this kind of tragedy to happen in order (…)

• Defeat Talibanisation

  26 July 2014, by Kuldip Nayar

  I find it strange that New Delhi is not seriously considering the pros and cons of what happens once the American and NATO forces reduce their presence in Afghanistan only in the shape of a few thousand troops. US Secretary of State Kerry has visited Kabul to devise the policy after the withdrawal. But New Delhi is not in the picture.
  No doubt, the Afghans have the best goodwill towards India because it has helped them to set up hospitals, schools and build roads. Yet Islamabad, which (…)

• Bapu Wrong Yet Again

  26 July 2014, by Badri Raina

  With the change of regime at the Indian Centre, things that never happened before are beginning to happen.
  A venerated Shankaracharya, who has to his credit sound, secular-humanist wisdom, exem-plified especially during the dark days of communal assault on the Babri mosque at Ayodhya (1990-1992), has out of nowhere taken upon himself to proffer the admonition that those who worship the Saibaba of Shirdi may be somewhat suspect as Hindu devotees because the Baba was used to chanting “Allah (…)

• Blacklisting NGOs: Fixing Party Agenda as the National Agenda

  26 July 2014, by Barun Das Gupta

  Last month (June) the Intelligence Bureau (IB) submitted a report marked SECRET to the Union Home Ministry about some NGOs which, the IB alleged, were “making concerted efforts to ‘take down’ Indian development projects”. The activities of these NGOs, the IB said, had ended in a retardation of the GDP growth rate by two to three per cent. More specifically, it charged the NGOs with organising campaigns and movements against nuclear and coal-fired thermal power plants with the money they (…)

• Parting Of “Friend Of The Court” Gopal Subramanium: IB and CBI kowtowing to Prime Minister Modi

  26 July 2014

  by Mustafa Khan
  The Intelligence Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation became obsequious to Narendra Modi even before he assumed the office of the PM. This is well illustrated in the personal experience of the former Solicitor General of India, Gopal Subramanium. “On May 15, 2014 none other than the Chief Justice of India told me that there was a complete integrity check and that the Intelligence Bureau has given me a clean chit. Now, immediately after a new government comes in, you (…)

• Democracy the Corporate World Dislikes

  26 July 2014, by Suranjita Ray

  The West is known for its rich tradition of being a constant champion of the values of democracy such as equality, freedom, rights, and justice. It has legitimised its positive intervention in all wars against democracy across the world. However, while the success of democracy lies in strengthening decentralisation, the democratic capitalist countries have campai-gned for the corporate world which privileges an integrated market economy that prevents redistribution of the basic productive (…)

• 16th Parliament Elections: A Clear Mandate

  26 July 2014

  by P. Sakthivel
  Unlike in the previous Parliament elections, this time the people’s verdict was very clear and they voted the BJP to come to power. By securing 282 seats the BJP has formed the government under the leadership of Narendra Modi. The incredible electoral campaign by Narendra Modi, the BJP’s electoral alliance, rampant corruption during the UPA’s rule, sharp increase in inflation etc. have finally paved way the for the success of the BJP in these elections.
  The Congress, with (…)

• Chicken-heart

  26 July 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The unprovoked shooting down of an Iranian civilian airbus by the US warships in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf on July 3 killing nearly 300 innocent lives, has shocked the world public.
  In a pathetic bid to cover up this ghastly crime by the American armada, President Reagan called it “a terrible human tragedy” but sought to justify it by saying that it was “a proper defensive action” by the US Navy. Through a series of false insinuations, the (…)

• On the Current Contradictions of Global Capitalism

  26 July 2014, by Eddie J Girdner

  BOOK REVIEW
  Capital in the Twentyfirst Century by Thomas Piketty; Harvard University Press, London; 2014.
  This important book is in the tradition of the classical political economy of Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx. It is based upon fifteen years of research by the author, a French economist, who teaches at the Paris School of Economics.
  In recent decades, too much of economics has been based upon abstract theory and mathe-matical modelling without looking at the trajectory of (…)

• Aftermath of Parliamentary Elections 2014: Fears and Uncertainties may Revive Call for Separate Electorate

  26 July 2014, by A K Biswas

  The outcome of the 16th parliamentary elections (2014) has thrown up intractable surprises, if not enigma, defying understanding and inter-pretation. Two prominent players—Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)—strangely stand wiped out from the Indian Parliament. The former is a national and the latter a regional party, though both have the record and experience of holding the reins of power—the BSP in Uttar Pradesh and DMK in Tamil Nadu. In UP, the Bharatiya Janata (…)