Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• V.P. Singh and Bofors

  13 May 2012

  With the Swedish ‘Deep Throat’, who brought out the Bofors kickbacks issue through his exchange of valuable information with investigative journalist Chitra Subramaniam-Duella, having decided to identify himself 25 years after the scandal emerged in press reports (he is none other than former Swedish Police head Sten Lindstrom), Bofors has resurfaced in the public domain. In this context we are reproducing what an elder statesman, C. Subramaniam, who held both Finance and Defence portfolios (…)

• Remembering Gujarat Carnage of 2002: Professor Hiren Mukerjee’s letter to President K.R. Narayanan and the President’s Anguish

  13 May 2012

  On the tenth anniversary of the Gujarat carnage, we reproduce here page 5 of Mainstream (May 4, 2002).
  Save the Conscience and Honour of Our India
  PROFESSOR HIREN MUKERJEE’S FERVENT APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT
  Following is the text of Professor Hiren Mukerjee’s letter to President K.R. Narayanan dated April 21, 2002.
  Dear Mr President,
  I write this to you not so much as a dear friend and young brother but, with a certain solemnity, as President of our Republic of India. The horrendous (…)

• Renewed Bofors Storm in Parliament

  1 May 2012, by SC

  Some major developments—release of abducted MLA Jhina Hikaka by Maoists after 32 days in their captivity, the conviction and symbolic sentence of Pakistan PM Yusuf Reza Gilani by the country’s highest court, and India’s successful test-firing of its heaviest remote-sensing satellite RISAT 1—took place in the course of the day today.
  But the most striking event of the day was the renewed Bofors storm in Parliament. The Opposition urged for a fresh probe into the allegation of Rs 60-crore (…)

• With a Feared but Clueless High Command, Congress is Dying. Look at the South

  1 May 2012, by T J S George

  Victory in the Delhi municipal elections has filled the BJP with ecstasy. Actually the significance of this election lies not in the BJP’s success but in the Congress’ rout. The once-great party has been reminded yet again that it is in a nosedive with no one, on present reckoning, capable of pulling it up.
  To understand how serious is the comatose condition of the Congress, we must look beyond Delhi and UP to the South. This was the citadel of the Congress. Indira Gandhi herself needed (…)

• Rational National Security: Mechanism for Defence Preparedness and National Security

  30 April 2012, by S G Vombatkere

  Start Point
  It was recently reported that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence (PSCD) has summoned the three defence service Chiefs “to seek their views on the state of defence preparedness pointed out by Army Chief General V. K. Singh in his leaked letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh” as they “needed to examine the whole spectrum of defence preparedness”. [Ref. 1] This is a very heartening news, even though the concern was triggered by the leaked contents of General V.K. (…)

• Arab Spring — Implications for the United States

  30 April 2012

  by SALEEM KIDWAI
  The wave of pro-democracy protests witnessed recently has fundamentally transformed the political dynamics of the Arab world. The push for representative democracy is irreversible and it would be unwise to try and impede it. The current political scenario in West Asia is prima-rily driven by internal realities, but it is also a reflection of past US policy choices not to support democratic reforms. Throughout the region, the US actively supported autocratic regimes and (…)

• Seoul Nuclear Security Summit: The World Needs More

  30 April 2012

  by VIVEK KUMAR SRIVASTAVA
  The origins of the nuclear security summit can be traced to the Prague speech delivered by Barrack Obama in April 2009. The Prague speech of the US President can be treated as the preliminary roadmap of Obama’s global nuclear security policy. This was a clear policy statement of the US Administration to deal with the most vital challenge to its national interest, checking the transfer of nuclear technology in the hands of terrorists and bringing the non-NPT (…)

• Today’s Trade Unionism

  30 April 2012

  by HARGOPAL SINGH
  May 1 is the International Workers Day. It is popularly known as May Day or Labour Day. Incidentally, May Day is also associated with some other events which have nothing to do with the labourers and workers. It has been regularly observed as a yearly feature by the trade unions since 1904 in most of the countries of the world although it was recognised as such in 1891 by the different organisations of the industrial workers. It was started so as to commemorate the (…)

• Children of God?

  30 April 2012, by Kuldip Nayar

  WHEN an Australian editor posed a question to the Indian press why it never had a Dalit, the untouchable, at a top position in journalism, I felt embarrassed. I considered it an omission which should have been rectified long ago and felt confident that it would happen before long.
  But after noticing that no attention was paid a few days ago to the 121st anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, a Gandhi for the Dalits, I have come to believe that the discrimination against the Dalits is a (…)

• Whither National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL)?

  30 April 2012

  COMMUNICATION
  I wholeheartedly congratulate Mainstream on the publication of Ather Farouqui’s remarkable article on Urdu in its annual issue and the overwhelming response it has received, generating an unpre-cedented debate on the pathetic inactivity of the literary organisations of Left-wing parties, particularly the Progressive Writers Association. The issue of shoddy functioning of Urdu organisations in general has also remained unaddressed for years. The situation is, indeed, pathetic (…)