Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• What Happened and is Happening in Junglemahal?

  27 June 2012, by Arup Kumar Sen

  The Maoists gave tactical support to the Trinamul Congress (TMC) before the last Assem-bly elections to oust the CPI-M in Junglemahal. In the fight against the common enemy, some TMC activists joined the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), the umbrella organisation of the people led by the Maoists. After the TMC came to power, the situation took a radical turn. When the peace talks with the Maoists failed, the joint forces of the State started various repressive operations (…)

• Gujarat - Dalits in Hindu Rashtra: Time for another Sadbhavna Fast, Modiji!

  27 June 2012, by Subhash Gatade

  ...27 of the 30 complaints that were addressed to the Commission spoke of indifference of police officials towards Dalits.These issues were raised immediately after NHRC Chairman K.G. Balakrishnan praised the status of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Gujarat. He said the State’s schemes for development of the marginalised are working well and penetration of education among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has reached 70 per cent. Almost all Dalits and their leaders present in the audience (…)

• Emergency: What it meant

  27 June 2012, by Amiya Rao, B G Rao

  Lest We Forget
  Thirtyseven years ago on June 26, 1975, Emergency was proclaimed throughout the country as the ruling leadership bared its fangs nakedly displaying its dictatorial proclivities. We present here write-ups and poems that bring back the nightmare of those dark days when our freedom was sought to be snatched away and our voice throttled. —Editor
  Not a leaf stirs in my kingdom without my leave. See how quiet my people sit. —Atahuallpa the Inca
  To those whose only (…)

• An Eye-witness Account

  27 June 2012

  Published in The Morning News—Sunday Times Service (London) on July 3, 1975. An introduction to the article read:
  “An uncensored account from Jonathan Dimbleby who was in Delhi last week for the Thames Televivsion programme: ‘This Week’. He filed his report from Addis Ababa to avoid censorship.”
  This was included in The Press She Could Not Whip: Emergency in India as Reported by the Foreign Press. —Editor
  The famous Indian journalist sat in his silent office surrounded by notes for an (…)

• Prof V.P. Dutt — Doyen of Chinese Studies

  27 June 2012

  by RUPNARAYAN DAS
  Much revered Prof V.P. Dutt, the doyen of Chinese Studies in India, passed away in Delhi last year of April 26. The demise of Meera Sinha Bhattacharjea three years back, and that of Giri Deshingkar earlier, and the passing the passing away of Gargi Dutt, wife of V.P. Dutt and a China scholar in her own right, had already created a void in Chinese studies in India. Prof V.P. Dutt’s demise will be long felt by Chinese scholars and policy-planners in the country, (…)

• Does the State resolve the Maoist ‘threat’?

  27 June 2012

  by S. MOHAMMED IRSHAD
  This article is about contextualising the People’s Court decision to release Chhattisgrah MLA Jhina Hikaka in a democratic process. The nature and process of trial are unknown to the public; however, it creates a public perception that the movement has some democratic values to impart. There is absolutely no clarity on the government response as well.
  The MLA was later released and the Maoists reported as saying that he has undergone trial under the Public Court of (…)

• Legalising Gambling: Is Vietnam Prepared?

  27 June 2012

  by AMRUTA KARAMBELKAR
  Inspired by Singapore’s successful gambling industry, the Government of Vietnam is consi-dering legalising casino-gambling and sports betting. This article is presenting different sides of this issue while looking into the following questions: Why is the government considering this policy? Can the gambling industry deliver as envisioned in the present state of affairs? Would the social cost of gambling industry outweigh the economic benefits?
  Background
  IT would (…)

• An Overview of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

  27 June 2012, by Kriti Singh

  UNDER THE BANNER OF THE SHANGHAI SPIRIT
  With the determination to make Central Asia a nuclear-free zone and accepting the “Declaration on Building a Region with Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity”1 the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), under the banner of the Shanghai spirit, is on the verge of completing eleven years of its existence. The SCO is a complex and dynamic organisation that marks the altering trend of the 21st century political alliances, and it advocates for the (…)

• SCO: Coping with Changing Times

  27 June 2012, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has always been the sum total of the concord available in the relationship between China and Russia. This is also where the grouping’s strength and weakness would lie. The SCO’s summit meeting in Beijing this month bears this out.
  Ten years on, the identity of the SCO—which includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan—is still evolving. It is far less than a formal alliance but is much more than a mere “talking shop”. (…)

• Rajkamal Choudhary

  27 June 2012

  by BISHWAJIT SEN
  Rajkamal Choudhary, a rare genius of creative writing, died on June 19, 1967, at PMCH, Patna. He died early, at the age of thirtyseven years and six months. During this short lifespan, he left, for the Hindi and Mathili readership, a great wealth of material—six short-story collections, six poetry collections and twelve novels. Alongwith this, he translated into Hindi the epoch-making Bengali novel Chowringhee by Shankar, the eminent Bengali novelist of considerable (…)