Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Essence of the September 30 Verdict

  14 October 2010, by SC

  While the three-hour spell-binding opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games before a packed Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the Capital on October 3 has warmed the hearts of every spectator, what was most noteworthy was the rousing applause with which the 60,000-strong crowd greeted the Pakistani participants in the Games—after the Indian team the biggest round of applause was reserved for them. This was fresh reflection of the importance of sports in breaking down artificial barriers raised (…)

• Who wants a War?

  14 October 2010, by Rakesh Gupta

  In the times of recession Obama claims to fulfill his promise to withdraw troops from Iraq. His military man in Afghanistan, Petraeus, is formulating a programme to withdraw from Afghanistan next year. Obama himself has announced steps to deal with the economy at home. He has unveiled an infrastructure programme of $ 50 billion to get more jobs for the American labour by investing in railways, roadways and airways and help middle class business with tax cuts.
  If seen in the context of the (…)

• Corporate Culpable Crimes

  14 October 2010, by Shyam Chand

  In case of Santa Clara County versus Southern Pacific Railroad, Justice Morrison Remick Waite of the US Supreme Court, without hearing the argument pronounced that
  The court does not wish to hear the argument on the question of whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does.
  Summary record of (…)

• Eye of the Crisis - Where are we heading to?

  14 October 2010, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  The government introduces a bill in Parliament without bothering to enforce the whip on its supporters to be present in the House. Equally shocking is the conduct of the Opposition which, while claiming to be the largest party in Parliament, goes back on its own word without the least scruple and does not vote for the amendment that earlier on the very same day it promised to support. And this was followed by a sordid exhibition of exchange of abuses, in which the (…)

• The Ayodhya Verdict

  14 October 2010, by Badri Raina

  I
  Like many others who have made comment on the verdict of the Allahabad High Court on the several suits pertaining to title over the disputed site in Ayodhya, I also have available to me only the excerpts of the operative parts of the judgement(s) that have seen print thus far.
  Having read these with care, and repeatedly, alongwith most commentaries that have appeared, and listened with despair to the many debates on the electronic channels, after some excruciating hours of (…)

• Ayodhya Judgment - Response of All India Christian Council

  14 October 2010

  The following is the response of Dr John Dayal, Secretary-General, All India Christian Council, to the Ayodhya judgment on September 30, 2010.
  The judgment of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High court today on the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute is patently based on populist and political sensitivities, rather than on points of law. The judges have given a legal cloak to popular Hindu mythology that the Lord Rama was born at the very spot where the mosque was built over the ruins (…)

• No Comment on Other Original Suit No. 5

  14 October 2010, by Mukul Dube

  The PDF file extracts from which are reproduced below can be had at http://rjbm.nic.in/. It is the “Judgment delivered by Hon’ble Dharam Veer Sharma, J”.
  It does not seem to me that elaborate comment is needed on the evident scheming, on the confounding of plaintiff and judge, and on the crafty intertwining of historical fact and mere belief. The treatment of limitation and of adverse possession is elegantly simple: chit main jeeta, pat tu hara. When Law does not help, make Deities pile (…)

• My Take on the Ayodhya Verdict

  14 October 2010

  by Sarah Kazmi
  Like so many other writers and commentators I am also going to start my take on the verdict with the confession that I haven’t read the 8000-page judgment. With that out of the way let’s move on to clearing the air regarding what exactly this judgment was about. It was aimed at the resolution of the 60-year-old Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi ownership dispute. It’s about the land on which the old Babri Masjid, which was demolished in 1992, stood and is believed to be the (…)

• Letter to President Obama

  14 October 2010, by A K Biswas

  Dear President Obama,
  Subject: Implementation of Concurrent Resolution of US Senate on Untouchability in India
  We have learnt from media reports that accompanied by the US’ First Lady, Michelle Obama, you are scheduled to pay a state visit to India in forthcoming November. I, on my own behalf as well as on behalf of over three hundred million people belonging to the Scheduled Caste (also called Dalits) and Scheduled Tribe communities, who are the underprivileged and discriminated (…)

• Karnataka Politics: The Road Taken and the Journey Ahead

  14 October 2010, by Sandeep Shastri

  Karnataka politics has been in the national limelight for a slew of reasons. The fact that the first BJP Government south of the Vindhyas has completed an eventful and tumultuous two years in office has by itself attracted the spotlight of attention. The periodic volcanoes that erupted in the political world created a heat that generated tremendous curiosity and excitement about the future of the State Government in particular and the direction of politics in Karnataka in general. The scams (…)