Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Economic Survey 2011 - 2012 : India under the Shadow of Neoliberalism

  20 March 2012, by Girish Mishra

  Even though the neoliberal dispensation has collapsed all over the world, its votaries in the corridors of power in India are behaving like the proverbial boy on the burning deck. They believe in the mantra of TINA (there is no alternative). It becomes quite obvious by casting even a cursory glance on the cover of the Economic Survey 2011-12, placed in the two Houses of Parliament on March 15. It, in the words of the authors, “depicts long and short run Phillips curves which highlight the (…)

• New Political Arithmetic in UP

  20 March 2012, by Arup Kumar Sen

  In the just-concluded Assembly elections in UP, the Samajwadi Party (SP) stormed into power with an absolute majority, winning 224 seats out of 403. Binary categories of political analysis are grossly inadequate to understand the dynamics of political change in the State. Though Maya-wati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was ousted by the SP, she was able to retain the loyalty of her core vote-bank of the Jatav caste and get 26 per cent of the vote-share, just four per cent less than that of the (…)

• Power Rests with the States

  20 March 2012, by Kuldip Nayar

  State elections may not predict the shape of next the Lok Sabha in 2014, but they do reflect the mood of the electorate. UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur which went to the polls indicate that the ruling Congress is declining rapidly. The party is nowhere in UP despite Indira Gandhi’s family descending on the state in full strength. Punjab and Uttarakhand, which were expected to go to the Congress, have slipped from its hands. The party has been routed in Goa and the only consolation (…)

• Did Bharata Build Bharat Varsha in Vain? —Elections Raise a Legitimacy Question

  20 March 2012, by T J S George

  India is a model to the world in the management of free and fair elections. But in terms of what comes out of this massive exercise, India is an argument against adult franchise. Many of those who get elected are so unworthy that the legiti-macy of democracy itself becomes questionable.
  As many as 103 candidates in UP (35 per cent of the total) had criminal cases against them. Some 30 candidates were contesting from jail. These included notorious mafia bosses. One candidate was housed (…)

• Youth, Image and Counter-reaction: Who Managed Better in UP?

  20 March 2012

  by VIVEK KUMAR SRIVASTAVA
  There are many factors which have contributed to the spectular success of the Samajwadi Party in the UP election. In the usual analyses the role of Akhilesh Yadav is being recognised. It is true that he galvanised the party towards success but many unexplored, hidden factors that lay in the background and which he cultivated in a sustained manner helped him to lead the party to the final destination while others failed miserably.
  This election helped to (…)

• NCTC and RPF Act: Not Compatible with Federal Relations

  20 March 2012

  by HAMID HUSSAIN
  The recent controversies on setting up a National Counter-terrorism Centre (NCTC) to operate under the Intelligence Bureau and the proposed amendment of the RPF Act, 1957 have thrown open the Centre-State issue once again. The credit for this goes to the charismatic leader, Naveen Patnaik, the three-time Chief Minister of Odisha, who took the lead in raising the issue of the NCTC with the Prime Minister and garnered support of ten more Chief Ministers such as Nitish Kumar, (…)

• Russia: Putin has Won the Presidential Election but Formidable Challenges Persist

  20 March 2012

  by R.G. GIDADHUBLI
  On March 4, 2012 Russia witnessed an impor-tant event in its contemporary history when the highly debated presidential election was held; and this was monitored by thousands of Russian and foreign observers. The Central Election Commission (CEC) declared that among the five contestants, Vladimir Putin received 63.75 per cent of the votes while Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov received 17.19 per cent, independent candidate Mikhail Prokhorov 7.82 per cent, (…)

• Putin and Russia’s Yearning for Change

  20 March 2012, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The following is an analytical piece written before the holding of the Russian presidential election. It is being used here as its contents are quite relevant even now.
  Predicting the outcome of democratic elections is fraught with risks. In the last elections to the Duma, the Russian electorate sprang a surprise by denying the ruling party a “brute” majority, but nonetheless voted it in. The popular mood has changed while at the same time the Russian electorate sought political stability. (…)

• Upsurge of the Underprivileged

  20 March 2012

  Whoever rules Uttar Pradesh gets the pass-port to Delhi. This has long been the rule during the days of Congress hegemony. Actually, Uttar Pradesh can claim to have reared as many as seven Prime Ministers: Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar. The only exceptions so far have been Morarji Desai and now Narasimha Rao.
  What is more significant is that the political set-up in Uttar Pradesh, more than of any other (…)

• Acid Test for Mulayam

  20 March 2012

  Varanasi and Kanpur are the danger signals which Mulayam Singh Yadav can hardly afford to underplay. The significant impact that was made on the Indian political scene by his victory in the December elections along with his allies, ousting the BJP in office from the key State of Uttar Pradesh, would be grievously dissipated if his government is shown up as incompetent to govern.
  The very character of the support that Mulayam Singh’s government has been able to muster tempts its adversaries (…)