Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Arushi-Hemraj Case: Ignoring Crucial Evidence Will Kill Faith In Justice

  25 November 2013, by Bharat Dogra

  One of the main pillars of faith in a democratic system is that sooner or later justice will prevail because the existence of an open system and various checks and balances will ensure that injustice and arbitrariness are challenged and stopped at some stage. Unfortunately this faith has been badly shaken in the case of poor and marginalised people as in an increasingly callous system their com-plaints and problems are simply ignored in too many cases.
  But what will happen to the faith in (…)

• The ‘Uncle Judge Syndrome’ shadow over Laxmanpur Bathe

  25 November 2013, by A K Biswas

  Part-I
  “This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice.” 1
  —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
  Articulating the deep sense of shock and anguish over the dalit carnage executed by Ranvir Sena at village Laxamnpur Bathe in Bihar, President Dr K.R. Narayanan condemned it as “the national shame”. In the night of December 1, 1997, 58 Dalits—men, women and children—who included a four-month toddler, were murdered by the Ranvir Sena in cold blood without provocation. The Patna High Court (…)

• ‘Freedom and People’s Emancipation’: It’s a Political and an Ethical Project

  25 November 2013, by Kobad Ghandy

  COMMUNICATION
  The following is the reply of Kobad Ghandy, the Marxist-Maoist thinker lodged in the Capital’s Tihar Jail, to the response of Bernard D’Mello, Deputy Editor, Economic and Political Weekly, Mumbai, to Kobad’s “Questions of Freedom and People’s Emanicipation” (a six-part essay that appeared in this journal, the first part on August 18, 2012, and the sixth on January 26, 2013). Bernard’s response was carried
  in Mainstream (November 16, 2013)
  Dear Bernard,
  Many thanks for (…)

• Sailen Ghosh’s Contribution to Evolving an Alternative Paradigm is Invaluable

  25 November 2013, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  Sailendranath Ghosh, who left us for his heavenly abode in October, will be remembered forever for his deep understanding and writings about an alternative development paradigm. His highly original, perceptive and path-showing writings on environment protection and alternative development path will be cherished for long. These will always remain an invaluable resource for those searching for a more ecologically protective, more humane and just development path.
  I had the (…)

• Factors of Maoist Movement among the Tribes of Central India

  25 November 2013, by J.J. Roy Burman

  The ambush of a convoy killing 28 people returning from a rally with great impunity by the Maoists in the heart of Bastar in the month of May 2013 goes to prove their control over and the support of the tribal people who are in overwhelming majority in the area.
  This ambush and killing constituted part of a series of carefully planned guerrilla assaults on high-profile targets. The Maoists tried to murder the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 2003 and the Chief Minister of West Bengal in (…)

• My Own Interactions with Nikhilda

  25 November 2013, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  It was around the spring of 1987 I had first met Nikhil Chakravartty for an interview. He was then the Chairman of NAMEDIA, editor of the weekly Mainstream, and his column in the Sunday Observer was said to be ‘the pulse of the country’s political scenario’.
  In fact, before I had met him for that interview, I had heard him at various meets/discussions/ interactive sessions. There was something about Nikhil Chakravartty that had made him stand out. There was something about his (…)

• On the Question of Bharat Ratna

  25 November 2013

  by Bishwajit Sen
  Who should be considered the gem of India? A cricketeer, a leader or a littérateur? This is the latest controversy that has been blowing since Sachin Tendulkar got this coveted award on retirement from Indian cricket. Most vociferous against the GOI decision are the leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party. Bereft of an issue (since the country did not explode into a spree of communal riots on the aftermath of the Patna Bomb explosions at Narendra Modi’s meeting venue) they have (…)

• Heart-wrenching Account of a Household

  25 November 2013, by Fahmida Riyaz

  BOOK REVIEW
  Ghar by Vibhuti Narain Rai (Hindi novel to be published in Urdu in Pakistan).
  I was twenty, I won’t let anyone say those are the best years of your life. —Paul Nizan in Eden Arabie
  Reading Ghar, the first novel by Vibhuti Narain Rai, first published in 1983, my mind was reflecting on several questions. As I turned the leaves of this heart-wrenching and captivating account of a household, an aged pensioner and his three youthful progenies, in Eastern Uttar Pardesh in (…)

• Editors Guild on Tejpal Episode

  25 November 2013

  The following is the statement of the Editors Guild of India on the allegations of sexual assault involving the editor-in-chief of Tehelka and a journalist. The statement has been issued by the EGI President, N. Ravi.
  The allegations of grave sexual assault made by a journalist of Tehelka against the magazine’s editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, are on the face of it shocking and shameful. Such incidents anywhere are condemnable in the strongest terms but the Guild is particularly saddened that (…)

• Beyond Trivialities: One Right Step

  19 November 2013, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  As the Sachin fever grips the whole country (not just Mumbai) in the ongoing second India-West Indies Test, the last—that is, the 200th—one being played by the master-blaster, the national political scene remains as murky as ever with rival political parties (including the newly-formed Aam Aadmi Party in the Capital city) trading charges against each other using the choicest of invectives occasionally bordering on the vulgar.
  These are, of course, trivialities but they reflect (…)