Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• A Window for Peace

  13 May 2012, by Kuldip Nayar

  India and Pakistan are seldom on the same page. Partly, it is because they carry the baggage of tragic history and partly because they have no trust in each other. Above all, there is a general perception in India that since the Army is a decisive factor in the affairs of Pakistan, it is not possible to foster any meaningful relation-ship until it becomes a democratic polity in the real sense. In fact, from the time General Moham-mad Ayub Khan took over the reins of Pakistan in 1958, India (…)

• Moratorium on Bt Brinjal

  13 May 2012, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  On February 9, 2010, the then Minister of Environment and Forests, Government of India, Jairam Ramesh, imposed an indefinite moratorium on the introduction of Bt Brinjal in India. It is necessary and desirable to quote the order verbatim. It reads as follows:
  It is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary based approach and impose a moratorium on the release of Bt Brinjals till such time independent scientific studies establish, to the satisfaction of both the public and professionals, (…)

• Give Top Priority to Avoiding Irreversible Loss

  13 May 2012, by Bharat Dogra

  ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
  While several environmental threats and losses require our immediate and urgent atten-tion, top priority should be given to those large-scale threats which are of an irreversible nature. In the case of such threats, once the damage has been done it may not be possible to reverse or undo the damage. The harm to the environment may then be not just large-scale but in addition it is also likely to be permanent. Of course, the biggest worldwide threat of climate change (…)

• Indian Economy: A Rocking Horse Galloping Forward

  13 May 2012, by Kobad Ghandy

  [This is the first 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).]
  In mid-September last year, the Union Cabinet approved the Approach Paper to the Twelfth Five-Year Plan. On March 15 this year, the Finance Minister (…)

• National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) Idea: A Western Replica

  13 May 2012

  by JAYAN P.A.
  “Though the country and the people may be divided into different States for convenience of administration, the country is one integral whole, its people a single people living under a single imperium derived from a single source.” —Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Chairman, Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India
  The creation of a new institutional mechanism for tackling terrorism—is this a different or peculiar kind of problem in addressing the question of terrorism? Does it (…)

• The Federal Dialogue

  13 May 2012, by Amna Mirza

  Dynamic Centre-State interactions are a defining yardstick of a federal set-up. The Indian federal dialogue has got a new fillip recently as seen from the nuanced way in which States have come forward to let the Union factor in their demands and grievances. This article tends to trace the interaction of the process of federalism and globalisation and attempts to make a plea for building constitutional structures of inter-governmental relations to streamline this Centre-State balance. India (…)

• Spirit of Federalism in India: The Need for NCTC

  13 May 2012

  by TAMANNA KHOSLA
  Federalism requires that States need to be given equal respect and powers as provided by the Constitution of India. In any kind of consultation States need to be involved in any kind of dialogue. Dialogue and deliberation between the Centre and States are a must in a federal democratic set-up. However there has been lot of controversy revolving around the formation of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre. Federalism in this case has been in a flux to deal with the (…)

• Maldevelopment – Its Sustainable Alternative for India

  13 May 2012, by Subrata Sinha

  This piece was sent sometime ago but could not be used earlier for unavoidable reasons.
  Facing the double whammy of climate change and its affluent society-triggered dwindling non-renewable resources, the Indian energy policy is at crossroads! The Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear calamity is leading to a global moratorium on nuclear energy. Japan apart, Europe has opted out of new nuclear power plants. Germany has shut down half its reactors and decided to shut down all by 2022, while the USA has (…)

• Who Am I?

  13 May 2012, by Gladson Dungdung

  An emerging human rights organisation of Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Human Rights Movement, has released the first “Jharkhand Human Rights Report 2001-2011”, which was welcomed from all corners of the society. However, I was just checking to know the reason of the absence of some human rights activists at the report release function held in Ranchi on March 10, 2012. While responding to my queries, one of the noted human rights activists of the State told me: “You have written a lot against us (…)

• Signs of Panic

  13 May 2012, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  On July 27, the Congress-I Working Committee was called by the party President, Rajiv Gandhi, and it adopted, among other things, a resolution on the political situation.
  What was strange was that this ten-para one-thousand-word document, claiming to reflect the ruling party’s views on the present situation, had no reference at all to the crisis in Punjab or to the serious developments in Kashmir, not to speak of the Bodo or the Jharkand agitations. There is a (…)