Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Political System is Hostage to Racketeers

  3 January 2013

  by Madhu Limaye
  In a scarcely noticed address to the 12th Joint Conference of the CBI and State Anti-Corruption Bureau Officers on October 20, 1994 the Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, called for “a multi pronged action plan to tackle the menace of corruption”. He assured the Enforcement Agencies that “all legislative and administrative measures would be taken to help them tackle the corruption problem”. In view of the fact that this plague of corruption is the single greatest obstacle (…)

• ‘George’ Biswas: Power and Passion of Song

  3 January 2013, by Hiren Mukerjee

  Early in the morning on August 18, there passed away in Calcutta a pre-eminent exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, truly a people’s artiste whose vast repertoire was always ungrudgingly at the service of the stricken society around him, his death marking almost the end of an era, the era that saw the bursting into the scene of the Indian People’s Theatre (IPTA) movement in the early forties, the new wave, the new dimension, the new categories of comprehension, as it were, which then suffused our (…)

• The Truth About DMK

  3 January 2013

  by S. Mohan Kumaramangalam
  The recent victory of the DMK in the Tiruchengode by-election has once more drawn all-India attention to this party. Naturally, throughout the country and even in Tamilnad itself, these questions are being asked with increasing concern: What is this party? What is its past? What is its programme? What do its victories in the general election and more recently in the Tiruchengode by-election mean for the future of our people?
  The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is not (…)

• The Shrine

  2 January 2013

  The shrine was made of gold Bedecked with jewels And in the altar Lay the redolent image, When they came For the final pillage. First there was a whimper, Then a cry, Finally a crescendo rose To do or die.
  Outside the people Wondered what were These endless meetings Those secret confabulations; Was it a question To be or not to be, When infact he could have Existed anywhere Or for that matter, everywhere?
  They hoped rationality would reign. But they brayed, No one can refute, There is (…)

• UPA Wins in Parliament, but . . .

  12 December 2012, by SC

  The Union Government has been able to defeat in both Houses of Parliament motions opposing the Manmohan Singh dispensation’s decision to introduce 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. On December 5, it was able to secure in the Lok Sabha a 253-218 majority (with both the SP and BSP, the parties supporting the government from outside, walking out just before the voting) while in the Rajya Sabha today the Opposition’s motion was defeated by 14 votes, that is, 109 for and 123 against (here (…)

• Statement by Retired IAAS Officers on the Ongoing 2G Controversy

  12 December 2012

  DOCUMENT
  The signatories to this statement, who are a group of retired officers of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, are dismayed and distressed at the reported statements by R.P. Singh, the former DG, Telecom Audit, another retired IAAS officer, which has the potential of under-mining the effectiveness and credibility of the Audit Department to which he had the honour of belonging until recently. Without questioning R. P. Singh’s motivations, we condemn his action in the strongest (…)

• Tribute to I K Gujral

  12 December 2012, by SC

  Four days before his 93rd birthday, former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral breathed his last at Gurgaon’s Medicity Centre on November 30, 2012, suffering from multiple ailments aggravated by lung infection that could turn fatal in advanced age. He left behind his two sons, Naresh and Vishal, their respective spouses, Anjali and Ragini, and their children besides IKG’s brother, celebrated painter Satish, and his wife Kiran. His wife, Shiela, had predeceased him some time ago. Apart from (…)

• USSR: The Contemporary Scene

  12 December 2012, by I K Gujral

  The main subject of my talk at this august forum is the tidal waves of change in the Soviet Union. Let me begin with a confession. It is not an easy subject to dwell upon. What we are witnessing is not change in the daily meaning of that word. It is a dissembling of history, of much that has gone into the making and un-making of the world during this century.
  When we see before our eyes the discarding of communism by the leaders and peoples of the Soviet Union; the CPSU banned from most of (…)

• Whither the Quest for an Alternative Political Party (APP)?

  12 December 2012, by Bharat Dogra

  AAP KAHAN JAYENGE?
  Contrary to the criticism voiced at several levels about the decision of Arvind Kejriwal and his colleagues to form a political party (AAP—the Aam Aadmi Party), there is nothing inherently wrong in social activists and movements opting for electoral politics. Indeed, the need for some kind of alternative politics has become more pressing over the years. The high level of corruption, at the Centre or in various States, is only one reason for this. The absence of a policy (…)

• The Bangladesh Scene

  12 December 2012, by Kuldip Nayar

  Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina only articulated her people’s sentiments when she rejected the invitation by Pakistan to attend the summit of the Developing Eight. Even a short visit to Dhaka, which I undertook a few days ago, showed the depth of Bangladesh’s alienation. Even after three decades when they freed themselves from West Pakistan, they recall the excesses committed by Islamabad and particularly remember the atrocities by the retreating Pakistan Army. During its last few (…)