Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Indo-Pak Relations at Crossroads

  19 October 2010

  by M.M. Khajooria
  The meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Reza Gilani, on the sidelines of the last SAARC conclave in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu was billed as “routine”. It was largely seen as a concession to the world community’s concern for the continuation of the India-Pak peace process. To everyone’s surprise the meeting identified “the trust deficit” as the core obstacle in successful pursuance of the Indo-Pak peace process and (…)

• Let us Break the Myths — Kashmir Boils Again!!

  19 October 2010

  by Khalid Wasim Hassan
  Kashmir boils again has been the headline carried by the national dailies and TV news channels for more than a month now. Fiftynine people, mostly young boys, including an eight-year-old, lost their lives while protesting on the streets. The Kashmir Valley has been under curfew for the last two months. This year the protests erupted as a result of a fake encounter in which three innocent people were killed by the Army at Machil village and they were labelled as (…)

• From Killing of Innocents to Eight-point Formula

  19 October 2010, by Balraj Puri

  What impact would the eight-point formula, announced by the Government of India on Kashmir, have on the turmoil that has gripped the Valley since June 11 when an innocent teenager was killed by a teargas shell? Why has it happened during this time of the year when tourism was showing the promise of a new record—when all house boats and hotel rooms were fully booked?
  This year also set a new record when 40,000 Kashmiri Pandits, mostly from outside the Valley where they had migrated in (…)

• Paradise Lost in Terror

  19 October 2010, by S.K. Dutta

  “If There Is Paradise On Earth,
  It Is Here, It Is Here, It Is Here”
  Nothing can better explain the beauty and culture of Kashmir then the above quote from Nishant Bagh which today is in turmoil with decades of violence, militancy, terror, aided and abided by Pakistan with vested political parties playing in it to keep the problem simmering. The last two months have seen the government machinery totally failing in Srinagar and the government in Delhi absolutely clueless as to how to (…)

• Floods and Rivers: Blinded by Arrogance of Technology or Vested Interest?

  19 October 2010, by Madhu Bhaduri

  The Yamuna, a filthy drain for most of the year in Delhi, comes alive during the monsoon season. This year the river has not only spread itself over a larger expanse, it has driven home a point which many observers and experts have been trying to make unsuccessfully especially before the learned judges: that our rivers cannot be compared with European rivers like the Thames, Seine and Danube, because they are replenished only with the seasonal monsoon rains. Rivers in India shrink and expand (…)

• Junglemahal: Centre Cannot Escape its Responsibility

  19 October 2010, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  It was reported that when some MPs from Trinamul Congress presented incontrovertible evidence of more than 90 camps in the Junglemahal area by the CPI-M with their goons armed with illegal firearms, the Union Home Minister expressed his contrived helplessness and tried to evade his responsibility by stating that law and order is a State subject under the Constitution. He was technically correct up to a point. List II—State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution—mentions: “Public (…)

• Nobel Peace Prize to Lin Xiaobo: A Wake-up Call for Political Reforms in China

  19 October 2010, by Rajaram Panda

  The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to the imprisoned Chinese dissident writer and activist, Liu Xiaobo. This Peace Prize is the first Nobel for the Chinese dissident community since the Chinese leader-ship introduced economic reforms but bereft of political reforms almost three decades ago. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu would trigger a debate inside China about whether and when China should begin democratic reforms. There are already symptoms of the (…)

• ‘Shastra Pujas’: What is Religious about Worshipping Weapons?

  19 October 2010, by Subhash Gatade

  Schools are meant for play and studies where kids slowly blossom into adolescents.
  Schools are meant for books, laboratories and other cultural activities which cater to the all- round development of its inhabitants.
  Schools are meant for the opening up of minds, inculcating inquisitiveness and curiosity, explaining the wonder that is the world and leading the students towards further enquiries and promoting inclusiveness cutting across different ascriptive categories with (…)

• Afghanistan: CIA’s ’Army of Assassins’

  19 October 2010, by Bashir Mohammad

  The CIA is funding the operation of a secret 3000-strong Afghan paramilitary army whose principal objective is to assassinate the Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives not just in Afghanistan but also in adjoining Pakistan’s tribal areas across the border. This has been brought out in sharp relief in Bob Woodward’s recently published absorbing but sensational book, Obama’s Wars. This operation bears striking resemblance with the covert assassination drive against the Al-Qaeda in Iraq; this helped (…)

• Ayodhya Verdict: Appeal to Chief Justice of India and Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court

  19 October 2010

  The Ayodhya judgment of the Allahabad High Court has relied on a Report, submitted to the High Court in 2003, by the Archaeological Survey of India after its excavations on the site, as ordered by the Court. As citizens of India, or persons of Indian origin, or friends of India, we demand that this Report should be published forthwith and be available for scrutiny in the public domain, especially to scholars, as it is now a part of the public judicial record.
  We learn that two (…)