Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Islamic Banking an Anathema to
 Pakistani Democracy

  13 March 2012

  A Rejoinder from Pakistan
  by Mohammad Farooq We have just received the following article from Karachi with a letter that reads:
  “Dear Sumit,
  I was so pleasantly surprised to read an article titled ‘Islamic Banking in India at the Service of Pan Islamists’ in the latest issue of Mainstream and it engrossed me so much that I wrote a rejoinder on the article which I just finished writing in one sitting and I am sending it to you for publication.
  “Mainstream remains the only link (…)

• Labour Strike, Kudankulam, Gujarat

  4 March 2012, by SC

  The last few days have been witness to several major developments capped by the February 28 general strike across the country the call for which came from all the central trade union organisations and independent federations. This strike, which incidentally brought into focus the trade unions’ all-in unity on specific demands of the common people and working class (although such unity had been forged earlier as well), evoked wide popular response in the urban areas in particular (notably in (…)

• Clean up Wounds, Tell the Truth, Ensure Justice

  4 March 2012

  by HOSBET SURESH
  The following is the statement of Justice Hosbet Suresh at a press conference held at the Gulberg Society, Ahmedabad on behalf of the Sabrang Trust and Citizen’s for Justice for Peace on February 27, 2012
  How does one live with the recurring memories of a gruesome past? Of the hideous acts of mass murder, rape and destruction of properties and livelihood? We have recorded all such stories, as each one, the victims, and all kith and kin of the dead, narrated with tears in (…)

• Whither Indian Politics/Elections?

  4 March 2012, by Rajindar Sachar

  Democracy is a basic feature of our Constitution. Parliament and Legislative Assem-blies are instruments created to give effect to the democratic content of people governing themselves. Political parties are the medium through which representatives are elected. It stands to reason that after the election, the implementation of the principles and policies continue or should continue to govern the programme. That is of course text-book teaching; but how close are these sound principles to the (…)

• No Guarantee of Food Security in Children’s Incredible India

  4 March 2012

  by RAZIA ISMAIL
  India’s decision-makers seem to find it difficult to see that there are children in the country. Being unable to see them, they are unable to perceive that they are hungry. In an age when we are able to use euphemisms like ‘under-nutrition’, this is perhaps not surprising. But it is disgraceful none the less.
  This country has a large population of children. Fortyone per cent of its total numbers. The national leadership has been unable to recognise them for what they are: (…)

• Syrian Uprising and Muslim Apprehensions

  4 March 2012

  by ADFAR RASHID SHAH and FAYAZ AHMAD BHAT
  The ten-month-long Syrian unrest against President Bashar al-Assad, one more increment to the Arab Spring, has assumed the shape of unending mass demonstrations but simultaneously it is a paradox especially for the non-Arab Muslim world and political analysts as well. On the one hand the people are shouting for more free expression, development and revival of human rights concern but on the other the Syrian uprising is looked at through different (…)

• Moscow Stirs itself on Syria

  4 March 2012, by M K Bhadrakumar

  [This article reached us a bit late. It is being used here as its contents still retain their validity.]
  With the “Friends of Syria” (FOS) grouping sponsored by the Western powers and their Arab allies scheduled to hold its first meeting in Tunis on Friday (February 24), Russian diplomacy has shifted gear into a proactive mode. The Kremlin was a beehive of diplomatic activity on Wednesday (February 22).
  The venue of the birthplace of the “Arab Spring” for the FOS to gather might, prima (…)

• Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Harmony of Thought and Feeling in His Poetry

  4 March 2012

  by ZAHIDA ZAIDI
  The 101st birth anniversary of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of our subcontinent’s best Urdu poets, was observed last month. He was born in Sialkot on February 13, 1911, and passed away in Lahore in November 1984. Remembering him we are reproducing the following article that was included in the author’s Glimpses of Urdu Literature.
  Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) is, without doubt, the most famous and popular poer of his generation and of the Progressive Writers’ Movement. But he is (…)

• Islamic Banking in India at the Service of Pan-Islamists

  4 March 2012

  by ATHER FAROUQUI
  The author has sent the following article explaining the background of its evolution that reads: “This article in its present form has evolved out of a previous one published in EPW (May 7-13, 2011) as Commentary and an even earlier opinion piece that appeared in The Times of India (July 28, 2008). While updating the present article I undertook further research in this field by taking into account a wide range of literature that has been published on the subject as well (…)

• Right to Freedom of Expression and Contemporary Left in India

  4 March 2012

  COMMUNICATION
  Apropos Mr Hasan Zaheer’s letter in Mainstream [Volume L, No 8, February 11, 2011], I must say that he has brought a very fine writer, Mr Ather Farouqui, into sharp focus through his critical appreciation. I must add that Mr Farouqui’s understanding of Marxist ideology and, more importantly, his version about its application in the Marxist perspective is without parallel when it comes to contemporary South Asia. It reminds us about the first and second generation Communists, (…)