Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Nehru, the Parliamentarian

  28 May 2012, by R Venkataraman

  It is a privilege for me to address this distinguished gathering of parliamentarians, authors, scholars and journalists, assembled here today to honour our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, on his 96th birth anniversary. A little over twentyone years ago, he left us in deep desolation. But he has handed over to us a priceless legacy of his thoughts and writings which continue to live with and inspire us. Nehru dominated the post-war world scene as an outstanding visionary, humanist, (…)

• The Myth and Reality of Progress

  28 May 2012, by Bharat Dogra

  The concept of progress is deeply embedded in most reading and writing of human history. At first glance it appears so obvious as modern life has so many comforts and conveniences that could not have been dreamed of just about five hundred years ago, not to mention five thousand years ago. But in a more specific context, if one was the compare war-ravaged Iraq at its worst in the early 21st century with the peak of the Mesopotamian civilisation several thousand years back, then there may be (…)

• Indian Economy: A Rocking Horse Galloping Forward — III

  28 May 2012, by Kobad Ghandy

  This is the third part of a four-part article on the current state of the Indian economy by Kobad Ghandy. The author is a Marxist/Maoist thinker, incarcerated in Tihar Jail; he has written two books: one on the Indian economy (Globalisation: Attack on India’s Sovereignty, 2004) and the other on the world economy (Capitalism in Coma, 2009). The first and second parts of this article appeared in this journal’s May 5, 2012 and May 19, 2012 issues respectively.
  Agriculture and Industry: Going (…)

• Economy’s Reflection in Tihar

  28 May 2012

  Anand (name changed) belongs to a village on the outskirts of Delhi in the Narela-Sonepat belt. He is young, probably just over 20, and in jail on a murder charge. He says property dealers rule-the-roost in his area, where most land is being sold at around Rs 1 crore per acre. A little less if it is far-off from the main highway. He says these dealers earn in crores and their gang would get 20 per cent commission. With such large easy money around, a number of such Anand-type gangs grow, (…)

• Exposing Prejudices, Breaking Myths

  28 May 2012, by Subhash Gatade

  BOOK REVIEW
  Freedom Movement and Indian Muslims by Santimoy Ray; National Book Trust, India; 2011; pages: i-xvi + 159; Price Rs 60.
  I
  How many people from this part of South Asia know the name of Soomru Allah Bux (1900-1943), a legendary leader from pre-partition India, who fought against the communal politics of the Muslim League, was popular enough to defeat its candidate to the State Assembly and wielded so much support among the masses that he could even become the Chief Minister (…)

• Globalisation, Migration, Trafficking: Gender Perspective

  28 May 2012

  by SONALI NARANG
  Globalisation and Migration
  Globalisation has been identified with a number of trends, most of which have developed since World War II. These include greater international movement of commodities, money, information, and people, development of technology, organisations, legal systems, and infrastructures to allow this movement. Globalisation is aimed at placing the world under a unitary economic framework of free market capitalism. The globalised system is based on (…)

• Karnataka: A Fresh Setback and New Political Opportunities

  28 May 2012, by Sandeep Shastri

  During the last fortnight, the CEC report submitted to the Supreme Court allowed the central BJP leadership to heave a deep sigh of relief. Ironically, the recommendation of the CEC for a CBI probe into mining and related irregularities, involving former Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, provided a (brief) moment of respite in what appeared to be an unending factional fight in the Karnataka BJP. In a rare display of apparent unity, the State BJP troika consisting of the former CM, the (…)

• There is an Untold Crisis Story in China, and it Concerns Other Countries too

  28 May 2012, by T J S George

  Something is happening in China that could have an impact on its future course and on neighbours like India. Internal unrest in the large and diverse country is nothing new, but things hit what looked like a climax of sorts a month ago, in the midst of preparations for the scheduled leadership change later this year. The problems began on the economic front. The pace of growth following Deng Xiaoping’s reforms was literally world-shaking, but it also led to rural poverty, urban (…)

• Weakening Parliamentary Democracy

  22 May 2012, by SC

  The last few days have seen the rupee falling to an all-time historic low of 54.50 while the Sensex plunged to an intra-day low of under 16,000 points on account of major concerns over the eurozone compelling the Union Government to announce through the Finance Minister that it would have to resort to “unpopular” austerity measures even while refraining from pressing the “panic button”; vegetable prices shooting up to 61 per cent in April (as compared to 30.6 per cent in March) raised food (…)

• Bounty on Hafiz Saeed : What is the United States of America up to?

  22 May 2012

  by M.M. KHAJOORIA
  The US Hafiz Saeed bounty bomb has turned to be a dud. At least for India and for the present. The $ 10 million bounty announced by the Obama Administration was “aimed primarily at shutting down Saeed’s terrorism operation even as Washington attempts to bring him to justice for the Mumbai carnage”. A bare reading of the Rewards for Justice notification issued by the US Justice Department, which announced “up-to-$-10-million” bounty for “information leading to the arrest (…)