Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Look Before the Devil Leaps on You: A Lesson for Uncle Sam

  10 February 2014

  by SREEKUTTY MOHANDAS
  “Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures,” said Emerson. And sometimes fiction confirms certain facts. An interesting conversation between Sir Thomas More and Will Roper in Robert Bolts play A Man for All Seasons gives a cue on the outcome of not adhering to international treaties and multilateral institu-tions. Roper, a young zealous man, wants Sir Thomas More to arrest a wicked man, even though the man did not break any law. Sir Thomas More warns Roper of the (…)

• Supplying Heat to the Pressure-cooker of Life

  10 February 2014, by Mubashir Hasan

  BOOK REVIEW
  The following is a book review sent to us by the reviewer from Lahore for publication in this journal.
  The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto; Penguin Viking; pages: 231; Price: Rs 499.
  Fatima Bhutto ingeniously crafts her first novel, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, around life in a small town in the frontier province of Khyber PakhtunKhwa. The fictional town of Mir Ali is a microsom not merely of the North-West Frontier region of Pakistan but also of the (…)

• Communal Disturbances in Sitamarhi, 1992

  10 February 2014, by A K Biswas

  A phone call from the District Magistrate about 8.30 in the morning on October 7 (?), 1992 startled me. I was informed from the other end that communal troubles on account of the Durga Puja immersion of idols had begun the previous night in the Sitamarhi town and engulfed the Riga town and some surrounding villages. The District Magistrate was palpably demoralised. He even expressed his apprehension that the angry and agitated mob could attack his official residence anytime. This was perhaps (…)

• Bapu Asaram Episode — Need for Wider and Transparent Investigation

  10 February 2014, by Bharat Dogra

  The Bapu Asaram episode has distressed and disturbed a very large number of people, and it is extremely important for truth and justice to prevail in this case. No one, no matter how resourceful and politically well connected, should be allowed to destroy evidence or otherwise hamper the process of justice.
  While first and foremost it should be ensured that justice is neither denied nor delayed in the latest case of sexual exploitation, it should be remembered that this is only one among (…)

• Whither India?

  28 January 2014, by SC

  The day our country observed its first Republic Day by adopting the Constitution of free India and proclaiming itself as a Republic, our first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, in a message to the nation on January 26, 1950, underscored the following:
  There is a peculiar appropriateness about this January 26, for this day links up the past with the present and this present is seen to grow out of that past. Twenty years ago we took the first pledge of independence. During these twenty years we have (…)

• Gandhi for Today

  28 January 2014

  On the occasion of the 66th anniversary of Gandhiji’s martyrdom on January 30 this year, we offer our sincere homage to his abiding memory by reproducing from his writings and utterances at the fag end of his life.
  Delhi is the metropolis of India. If, therefore, we really in our hearts do not subscribe to the two-nation theory, or in other words, if we do not regard the Hindus and the Muslims as constituting two distinct nations, we shall have to admit that the picture that the city of (…)

• Lead, kindly Light....

  28 January 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Every year we dutifully go through the ritual of offering homage to Gandhiji on the day of his martyrdom.
  We shall once again be witnessing the ceremony on January 30 to be conducted as per protocol—early morning prayer at Rajghat, singing of bhajans and hymns, a round of spinning and then during the course of the day, meetings and seminars and a special programme on Doordarshan to remind us of the Father of the Nation. VVIPs encircled by gun-totting security guards (…)

• Netaji on India’s Struggle for Freedom

  28 January 2014

  On January 23 this year falls Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 117th birth anniversary. On this occasion we are carrying the following excerpts from Netaji’s speeches for the benefit of our readers.
  The Indian movement can be analysed under two aspects: 1) the aspect of national liberation—this aspiration is understood by freedom lovers all over the world; 2) the endeavour to create a new social order on the basis of social justice.
  It is difficult to see the form the new social order will (…)

• Seventyfive Years of Planning in India (1938-2013)

  28 January 2014

  by Debabrata Biswas
  Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had the vision, with a mission, to establish socialism in India. Hence, even during the days of the freedom struggle he started planning for socialistic reconstruction after winning freedom through uncompromising struggle against British imperialism. As a part of this planning, one major step that he took was to form the Planning Committee for the first time in the history of India. After being elected the President of the Indian National (…)

• 2014 — Prospects for India in the New Year

  28 January 2014, by N V K Murthy

  India has started its sixtyseventh year of freedom from British rule. Much has happened in India and the world over these past sixty-six years. India faces a general election in 2014. It seems to be at the cross-roads of history. Which way will it go? That is a million dollar question troubling every Indian. History, they say, is of value because it provides us with lessons to learn. At the dawn of India’s freedom, the world was a very different place. Two devastating world wars had been (…)