Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• In Memory of Govind Purushottam Deshpande (1938–2013)

  26 October 2013, by Shamsul Islam

  TRIBUTE
  The death of Govind Purushottam Deshpande (GoPu and GPD to his friends and fans) recently at Pune is an immense loss to academia the world over, Indian theatre and culture. With his death we have lost an intellectual and activist who was known for his intellectual inquisitiveness and debate/dialogue, the two genres becoming a rarity these days. It was a wonderful experience to read him, listen to his lectures (including class-lectures) and witness a play penned by him. The (…)

• US Obduracy in Syrian Crisis

  26 October 2013, by Mansoor Ali

  Some politicians in Europe, the US and countries of the Persian Gulf have concluded that the UN experts’ report about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, published on September 16, was evidence of the Syrian authorities having used sarin gas against civilians in the suburbs of Damascus. It is true, the experts have confirmed the fact that chemical weapons were indeed used in the country but they didn’t reach any definite conclusion about the origin of the payloads. The payloads could have (…)

• UPA-II Government Cornered, Exposed — Yet Again

  21 October 2013, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  The registering of an FIR against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and his group of companies, Hindalco, by the CBI on October 15 for alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks has really sent shockwaves across the corporate world. It has once again put the spotlight on Dr Manmohan Singh as erstwhile Coal Secretary P.C Parakh, also placed in the same category as Birla, has alleged that the allocation, having been approved by the PM, the CBI should have made him (…)

• Obamacare and the Politics of Libertarian Right

  21 October 2013

  This article was written before the shutdown of the US Government ended after senior lawmakers of the country worked through the night on October 15 to reach a deal (to extend the US borrowing authority till February 7, 2014) to avert a debt default that could have had catastrophic consequences for the global economy.
  by Krishnakumar S.
  The Republicans have stalled the clearance of the demand for grants for the Federal government, alleging fiscal profligacy engendered by the government (…)

• The Modi Myth

  21 October 2013, by A B Bardhan

  After completing the tortuous process of anointing Narendra Modi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate the BJP has launched a campaign blitz to build a larger-than-life image of Narendra Modi. The process inside the BJP itself required the strong-arm tactics of the RSS to make all the opponents and dissidents fall in line. They were told to keep their thoughts to themselves but keep their mouths shut. Even the veteran L.K. Advani was put in his place.
  All sorts of qualities and (…)

• India, Pakistan Should Discuss Joint Action against Al-Qaeda, Taliban

  21 October 2013, by Kuldip Nayar

  In his reply to my letter, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said: “I look forward to a time when Pakistan and India will be able to shed the debilitating baggage of the past and focus more on the future, when opportunities, rather than challenges, define the relationship between two proud and sovereign nations.” His meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is an evidence of his ardent desire to make up with India.
  Hostility between India and Pakistan is so proverbial that any movement (…)

• Uphold JPC’s Credibility

  21 October 2013, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The Joint Parliamentary Committee probing into the securities seam has inevitably to extend its protracted labours. The star character in the securities scandal, Harshad Mehta, having gone back on his previous position and publicly levelled a serious allegation of having paid the Prime Minister Rs 1 crore and have secured benefits in consequence, there was no escape for the JPC from brushing aside this latest development.
  What has been entrusted to the JPC by (…)

• Congress’ Game-plan in Andhra Pradesh

  21 October 2013

  by Sambaiah Gundimeda
  The Congress party has enjoyed stable support in Andhra Pradesh during the 2004 and 2009 elections, thanks mainly to the Machiavellian electoral strategies and politics of the former Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR). But after YSR’s disastrous death in a helicopter crash in September 2009, both the Congress party and the State of Andhra Pradesh have been embroiled in crisis after crisis. Two factors that are at the centre of these crises are Telangana and (…)

• Trojan Horse in Mahabodhi Temple! Is Babri brewing at Buddhists’ Monastery?

  21 October 2013, by A K Biswas

  Multiple blasts on July 7, 2013 in the Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya, Bihar, which is the holiest shrine of the Buddhists and a UNESCO world heritage site, point the finger at the callousness in the security and sanctity of so sacred a pilgrimage centre. The blasts have rightly invited attention of people across the globe in general and Buddhists in particular. The place where Gautam Buddha had attained his enlightenment is visited by tens of thousands of devotees and tourists from home and (…)

• However High You Be, the Law is Above You

  21 October 2013, by Badri Raina

  The declaimed prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party seems distinctly apprehensive, and therefore angry.
  As his political persona marches fast forward, albeit with contradictions and hiccups—the latest one being the declaration that he would like to see toilets built before temples, a sentiment first expressed by Jairam Ramesh of the Congress party, only then to be bashed by the Hindutva brigade, who now can find only good things to say when Modi says the same thing, (…)