Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Kerala Model: Gone with the Wind?

  29 December 2013, by K Saradamoni

  Kerala, a tiny strip of land in the extreme south-west of the Indian subcontinent, became a state on October 1, 1956 following the dictates of the States Reorganisation Commission. This area, renowned for the spices grown there, especially pepper, was known in countries, East and West. Its fame increased when the very next year, that is, in 1957 the people voted to power a Communist Government, the first in India. This attracted lots of people, from other States and outside the country, as (…)

• Workers’ Consciousness Revisited

  29 December 2013

  COMMUNICATION
  A leading member and ideologue of the CPI, Anil Rajimwale (AR for short), has honoured us by his important critique (Mainstream, vol. LI, number 27, June 22) of our position on the question of workers’ (revolutionary) consciousness, published earlier in the same weekly.
  As Lenin’s idea on this question was the object of our critique, AR naturally starts with a defence of Lenin with the opening salvo: “Among the great figures of the world revolutionary movement Lenin was the (…)

• Who Gains when a Poor Kills another Poor?: Reminiscing the Past and Reflecting the Present

  29 December 2013

  by Sunil Ray
  ‘Bengali culture’ seems to have lost its resonance when I see a poor is killing another poor just because both of them belong to opposite political parties. Raping and killing of women across Bengal presents another antithesis of its culture that seems to have lost its equilibrium. The society has now reached the height of dehumanisation the State is celebrating. All these lead me to argue that what Bengal has been witnessing today is one of the greatest crises of humanity—the (…)

• Pension Reforms

  29 December 2013, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  Pension reforms can benefit tens of millions of new beneficiaries, apart from pension coverage improving for existing beneficiaries. Most of these beneficiaries are elderly people, but some others will also benefit by broadening the criteria for pensions provided on the basis of ‘single women’ status and ‘disability’.
  This optimistic outlook on pensions is based to some extent on documents of the Central Government, and to some extent on some sporadic efforts of the (…)

• Reminiscent of an Era that went Wrong

  29 December 2013

  by Bishwajit Sen
  It is as if the British media has suddenly been hit by a thunderbolt. It is of course not the “spring thunder” of the Naxalbari type, which was distinctly heard in Peking (now Beijing) and faithfully reported by its radio. This is of another sort. Aravindan Balakrishnan (73), a suspended member of the Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist), and his wife Chanda (67) have been found guilty of enslaving three women (of different nationalities, that is, Malay-sian, (…)

• Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Food Security

  29 December 2013, by Bharat Dogra

  Recently there has been a lot of discussion on food security, but most of this discussion has taken place in the narrow context of making available cheaper foodgrains to a larger number of people. The kind of questions which dominated this debate are-how many more people can be provided cereals priced at Rs 2 or Rs. 3 per kg and what will this cost the government in terms of increasing the food subsidy. A time has come now to go beyond these narrow concerns and seek a wider, comprehensive, (…)

• The Meaning of Politics

  29 December 2013, by D.K. Giri

  Of different influences on our daily life, politics is predominant. Most often, it overrides other sectors of life—social, cultural, business, technology, agriculture. Bernard Crick, in his In Defence of Politics says: Politics affects everyday life. “The decisions made by politicians affect us all, from cradle to grave.” But do the people in India or other parts of the world understand politics correctly or embrace politicians? Not really. A credible Institute in Stockholm, the Institute (…)

• From Urdu to Hindustani: Has the Former Sung the Latter’s Dying Dirge?

  29 December 2013

  by Ather Farouqui
  It is customary to extend one’s gratitude on receiving such a respected award and I have no intention of departing from this ritual. Besides my heartfelt thanks to the Sahitya Akademi, I also want to express my gratitude to the honourable members of the jury as well as Professor Gopi Chand Narang, whom I count among the most active and vibrant presidents of the Akademi. As its President he was instrumental in securing a place of prominence for Urdu in the Akademi, a no (…)

• Remembering Nikhilda on his Birth Centenary

  29 December 2013, by Barun Das Gupta

  Remembering Nikhilda on the occasion of his birth centenary fills me with memories of long years of working with him. It was in January, 1967, that I was introduced to Nikhilda by Shri Pannalal Das Gupta, the veteran communist revolutionary of Bengal who had, on coming out of jail in 1962, started Compass, the first weekly newsmagazine in Bengali. A budding reporter, I was then working with the weekly. I had just come back from Nagaland where I had been sent by Shri Das Gupta to work as a (…)

• I owe my Journalism to Nikhilda

  29 December 2013

  by Dadan Upadhyay
  This is true. Had I not met Nikhilda, I would have never come to the profession of journalism. As my “guru”, he initiated me to journalism.
  My memory flashes back to the early 1960s when I was still a student and had come to Delhi for admission into the University. When I arrived in Delhi, my father was out of the city for some days and had left a note for me to contact Nikhilda who at that time was living in an MP flat, allotted to Renudi, in North Avenue. I went to (…)