Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• China: Who’s Counter-revolutionary?

  9 June 2011, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  June 4, 2011 marks the twentysecond anniversary of the massacre of countless students and youth at Beijing’s famous Tiananmen Square. On this occasion we are reproducing the following piece by N.C. written in July 1989.
  Sometime ago, I was attending an interesting discussion on the subject of a national alternative. The discussion concentrated largely on the basic approach to the malaise of the present order, and was bereft of the excitement of a Rajiv-versus-V.P. (…)

• Impact of Globalisation on the Poor in USA

  9 June 2011, by Mathew Aerthayil

  A COMPARISON BETWEEN ‘REAGANOMICS’ AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME IN INDIA
  Globalisation is an international phenomenon which has swept through every country in the world. But its impact has been varied among countries. Most of the developing countries experienced more of its negative impact than the positive effects. The United States of America (USA), which was the main force behind the process of globalisation, had also experienced its impact. The objective of this article is to (…)

• Science and Religion: Must the two Never Meet?

  9 June 2011

  by FRANCIS GONSALVES
  Pushpa M. Bhargava’s article in Mainstream (March 24, 2011, pp. 21-22) entitled “Miracles or Hoax by the Clergy?” made interesting reading. While his critique against miracles—specifically, the manipulation and marketing of them by the clergy—is relevant and acceptable, some of the points he raises are neither backed by solid facts nor sound reasoning. Hence, it seems that Bhargava throws out the baby with the bathwater and appears as dogmatic and irrational about his (…)

• An Open Letter to Ms Mamata Banerjee

  9 June 2011

  by SAMUDRA GUPTA
  Dear Ms Mamata Banerjee,
  At the outset, congratulations. Your relentless struggle and determination with about half-a-dozen of committed followers have derailed the juggernaut of the Left. But, you may not have time for unsolicited advice from a non-entity like yours truly. Nevertheless here are a few:
  1. You are at the moment surrounded by rank opportunists, many of them will leave you the day they find a bandwagon more spacious and prospective. Ex-Congressmen (you (…)

• Assembly-line Manufacture of Books, the Surest Way to Lose Readers

  9 June 2011, by T J S George

  Like all the superluxury cars in the world opening showrooms in India, all the great book publishers of the world are opening branches in India. The pull of the Indian middle class is as compelling as the pull of the Indian millionaire class.
  But the super cars ensure that they remain super; even if they sell only a dozen cars a year, the price tags will justify their overheads. Book publishers have to have large volumes to sustain the overheads. So the diligence that goes into the (…)

• Victory of Lokshahi at Golibar

  9 June 2011, by Suhas Borker

  Last Saturday (May 28), at the Golibar slums in the Khar area of Mumbai, Medha Patkar ended her indefinite fast on the 9th day at 1.45 pm by accepting a sip of lemon juice from Akanksha Bai, an 80-year old resident of Ganesh Krupa Housing Society who had herself been in jail for resisting the shun demolition. Medha had not only won a hard-fought battle for the slum- dwellers of Mumbai but also brought into sharp national focus the plight of 93 million Indians who live in the urban slums of (…)

• Worrying Thoughts

  9 June 2011, by Humra Quraishi

  Needless to point out that this turmoil in the neighbourhood relays an eerie build-up. No, definitely no feel-good signs for this entire region, as it gets writ large the indirect interventions of that superpower. The masses sit as sheer victims in these expansionist moves and the duality of roles played by the political characters, here and there. Its no longer hazy that the violence and the accompanying havoc has a pattern to it, a certain structure to it, a definite, much-layered design (…)

• Congress - DMK Ties, ‘Monolithic’ CPM’s Future

  9 June 2011, by SC

  While DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi’s daughter and MP Kanimozhi continues to be in Tihar Jail alongwith former Union Telecom Minister A. Raja and Kalaignar TV MD Sharath Kumar (all accused in the 2G spectrum scam), Karunanidhi and his family members have one by one come to the Capital to meet her in a bid to offer her solace and the assurance that they all stand by her. At the same time Karunanidhi, whose woes have definitely mounted on having been humiliated in the just concluded State (…)

• West Bengal: Urgent Tasks before the New Government

  9 June 2011

  by DEBABRATA BANDYOPADHYAY
  Winston Churchill, in the preface to his six-volume history, The Second World War, wrote: In War: Resolution; In Defeat: Defiance; In Victory: Magnanimity; In Peace: Goodwill.
  Mamata Bandyopadhyay followed this precept wonderfully in what the media chose to call ‘the great battle for the Writers’ Buildings.’ She made a courtesy call on the former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chattopadhyay at the latter’s residence. By this act she set a shining example of (…)

• In Defence of Freedom: The Role of Rammohun Roy and Rabindranath Tagore

  9 June 2011

  by SUBRATA MUKHERJEE
  A Bengali play, adapted from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, was recently not allowed to be staged by the district administration of Hooghly in West Bengal. The administration so acted as a CPI-M leader submitted a written objection, the latter having perceived that enactment of the play would create disaffection among the voters against the CPI-M. The Chief Minister however later on publicly opined against this decision, but nevertheless the prevention of staging of an (…)