Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Arguing for ‘Multidimensional Approaches’ to the 12 Five Year Plan

  13 March 2012

  by Jos Chathukulam
  I would like to appreciate the Planning Commission for widely recognising the civil society organisations and for providing space for enabling citizens to give suggestions while constructing the Approach Paper for the 12th Five Year Plan. I hope, as it is mentioned in the Draft Approach Paper, the process of consultation will continue till the draft is finalised. Please note my specific remarks and it will be confined to only three areas including overall comments.
  1. (…)

• Illusion versus Reality

  13 March 2012, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings Forty years ago the following editorial appeared in Mainstream (March 4, 1972) dissecting the Shanghai Communique concluded at the and of US President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China. This has a lasting value and is being reproduced for the benefit of our readers.
  After his pilgrimage to Peking, which he pompously claims to have changed the world, Mr Nixon has landed himself in a hornet’s nest in which long-standing allies and stooges are in a state of fear (…)

• Bride Selling: A National Shame

  13 March 2012

  by Saraswati Swain
  Recently a news item on the sale of young girls in the Haryana market was flashed in the The Times of India with a photograph vividly revealing this. This brazen and despicable act is comparable to a cattle mart. A girl’s highest selling price of Rs 1000 is less than that of a cow! This incident coming to the limelight following a survey by a voluntary organisation is not an isolated one. Such events are taking place in many parts of our country even today, that is, (…)

• Paying the Price for being a Woman…

  13 March 2012

  by Anup Sahu
  I am perturbed by the recent increase in sexual and violent crimes against women. What has been more disturbing is the increasing level of brutality in such incidents. Last Friday (February 24), a minor girl was allegedly raped inside a moving car in Noida by five young men. Earlier last month in Kolkata, a 37-year-old woman and a mother of two was allegedly raped at gunpoint. In another ghastly incident, a woman was dragged out of the train near Kolkata and allegedly raped by (…)

• Status of Tribal Women in India

  13 March 2012, by J.J. Roy Burman

  Tribals or adivasis, as they are popularly known as a symbol of self-assertion, comprise of around 8.2 per cent of the national population. The tribals are concentrated mostly in the central belt of India and parts of the North-East. The status of women in the tribal societies is compa-ratively better than that of the women in general society—apparently so. The sex ratio of the tribes in India during 1991 showed 971 females per 1000 males while it was 927 females among the general (…)

• Deliberative Democracy is the Answer

  13 March 2012

  Multiculturalism, Secularism and Politics of Veiling
  by Tamanna Khosla
  Multiculturalism has taken a back-seat in Europe, especially after the London bombings as well as the killing of Theo Van Gogh and the Madrid bombings. The two major countries where multicultural policies are part of the government policies, the United Kingdom and Holland, are putting it into question in its many different aspects. In England, the veil issue has become public and many people are pushing for some (…)

• On Secularism and Space for Religion in Politics in South and South-East Asia

  13 March 2012, by Ajay K. Mehra

  BOOK REVIEW
  The Politics of Religion in South and Southeast Asia, edited by Ishtiaq Ahmed; London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group; pp. 268.
  “For me, politics bereft of religion are absolute dirt, ever to be shunned. Politics concerns nations and that which concerns the welfare of others must be one of the concerns of a man who is religiously inclined, in other words, a seeker after God and Truth... God and Truth are convertible terms and if anyone told me that God was (…)

• Kuwait: Best House in Bad Neighbourhood

  13 March 2012

  In a region surrounded by democratic desert, Kuwait is a shining example of democracy albeit limited. On gaining independence from Britain in 1960, Kuwait took only a year to hold democratic elections for a Constituent Aassembly which drew up the Constitution. Through perio-dic competitive elections Kuwait has exemplified a stable and relatively open political system, which stands in stark contrast to the sea of authoritarianism that surrounds it. Kuwait has been a sounding board, so to say, (…)

• West Bengal: The Mukherji Commission Report on Sainbari Murders Revisited

  13 March 2012, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  The Government of West Bengal constituted a Commission of Inquiry into the Sainbari Murder Affairs under Justice (Retd) T.P. Mukherji on April 28, 1970. The Mukherji Commission submitted its report on July 27, 1970. The government, by a notification dated July 25, 1972, published the Report for general information. The Report is, therefore, in the public domain.
  The reason for revisiting the Mukherji Commi-ssion Report is that the present Govern-ment of West Bengal has constituted another (…)

• NGOs and Kudankulam Protests

  13 March 2012, by Bharat Dogra

  The recent controversy over anti-Kuodan-kulam (nuclear plant) protests and the filing of cases against NGOs has four important aspects. Firstly, the justification or otherwise of anti-nuclear power protests. Secondly, there is the question of whether NGOs can use foreign funds for such protests. Thirdly, there is the more specific question of whether those who were involved in anti-Koodankulam actually used foreign funds? Last but not the least, there is the wider question of international (…)