Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Calling the China-Russia Split isn’t Heresy

  13 September 2012, by M K Bhadrakumar

  One way of conveying that things aren’t quite all right in China-Russia relations would be to say that this isn’t as warm a relationship as it once was. Another would be to quote Ariel’s song about Ferdinand’s “drown’d father” in William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, “Those are pearls that were his eyes ….”
  China seems to prefer the first option for the present, while drawing attention to the emerging truth regarding its “comprehensive strategic cooperation and partnership” with Russia. (…)

• Freedom Day at Amritsar

  13 September 2012, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Three landmarks to cover in a single day—that was how some of us spent our fiftieth Independence Day.
  The first of the pilgrimage was to the Indo-Pak border post at Wagah to celebrate the anniversary of the freedom at midnight.
  Reaching Amritsar by the Shatabdi Express in the late evening of August 14, about a dozen of us led by the President of the Citizens for Democracy, Kuldip Nayar, we were received by a huge crowd at the Amritsar station itself—which included (…)

• Disruptions and Parliamentary Accountability

  13 September 2012

  by Nivedita Giri
  A key function of Parliament is to oversee the working of the government by holding it to account for its policies and actions. There is a huge uproar across the country that, like in the 2G allocation, the government arbitrarily allocated the mining lease which has led to the exchequer incurring a loss of staggering Rs 1 lakh 86 thousand crore. (CAG Report) The Opposition, especially the BJP, finds a parallel with 2G: A. Raja, the Minister, then resigned; the Minister of (…)

• Interlinking of Rivers: Don’t Ignore Expert Opinion

  13 September 2012, by Bharat Dogra

  The intense debate on the proposed inter-linking of rivers (ILR) project has revealed that some of the most eminent experts on the subject, including those who have occupied senior government positions in the past, have very serious reservation about this project.
  It is extremely useful to examine carefully the points raised in a statement signed by 65 senior academics, former government officials, scientists, engineers, lawyers, journalists, environmentalists, activists and others. This (…)

• Prospects for UN Peacekeeping
in Afghanistan

  13 September 2012

  by Ali Ahmed
  It is fairly clear by now that a draw-down, not amounting to a withdrawal, of the US-NATO force ISAF from Afghanistan is underway. The exit is not to be a complete one since the Strategic Partnership Agreement between Obama and Karzai allows them to stay on till 2024. This is to keep the Kabul regime stable and the ‘Bonn process’ on course but also in connection with the strategic interests of the US in the region, namely, Iran, Central Asia, China and increasingly Pakistan. (…)

• How Feasible and Effective would Mohalla Samitis be in Urban Madhya Pradesh?

  13 September 2012, by Shyam Singh

  In the wake of the unprecedented growth in the urban population, the existing system of citizen participation has been found ineffective in providing equal opportunities to all people to participate in the process of urban governance. Unlike rural areas, urban areas have two-tier system of local self-governance, that is, munici-pality and wards. The representation ratio (population per elected representative) in urban areas is very high. In Bhopal city, according to Census 2011, a Councillor (…)

• Educational Reforms in Finland and their Relevance to India

  13 September 2012, by P R Dubhashi

  BOOK REVIEW
  Finnish Lessons – What can the World learn from Educational Change in Finland? by Pasi Sahlberg; published by Teachers College, Columbia University, New York and London; pp. 165; 2011.
  Finland, a tiny country of 5.5 million people in North Europe and belonging to the Nordic group of countries, has become a role model for social cohesion and solidarity and rapid economic and technological development. Nokia, a Finish company, has become the leader of mobile phones all over (…)

• Decoding Decency and Violence: Role of Youth in Contemporary Odisha

  13 September 2012

  by Kamalakanta Roul
  Introduction
  The stereotypical understanding of the terms decency and violence has been brought into a comprehensive application for public discourse. Decency and violence are interlinked components whereas the youth community acts as the link-pin between them. The notion of the state has been explored in this broad paradigm of debate to show how these aforesaid components are enmeshed with the state’s structure of system as unit. The interface of decency, violence, (…)

• Mainstream’s Journey from September 1, 1962 on

  13 September 2012

  Dear Reader,
  Mainstream first appeared fifty years ago—on September 1. 1962. The first issue contained, besides a letter from the editor (C.N. Chitta Ranjan) to the reader “Demolishing the Wall”, regular columns—New Delhi Skyline, the Week, Economic Notebook—and several articles (‘Taxes and Disparities’ by V.K.R.V. Rao, ‘The Truth About DMK’ by S. Mohan Kumaramangalam, ‘New Tasks in Agriculture’ by Bhowani Sen, ‘Monopoly Trends in the Press’ by J.P. Chaturvedi, and ‘Winds of Change Over (…)

• Parliamentary Crisis and Judicial Silver-lining

  2 September 2012, by SC

  For a week now the monsoon session of Parliament has been stalled by the principal Opposition party, the BJP, which is demanding in both the Houses that the PM should own up his moral responsibility for ‘Coalgate’ and tender his resignation before it allows the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to function. This appears to be an over-reaction to the CAG report on the coal scam and there is much strength in the argument that by resorting to such tactics the party is, consciously or unwittingly, (…)