Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• No Honour in “Honour Killing”

  19 April 2010, by Sunita Vakil

  It is a matter of national shame when arguments condoning crimes like “honour killings” come in the form of tradition.
  A. Marten says: “If we would know the political and moral condition of a state we must ask what rank women hold in it.” It needs no reiteration that patriarchy runs deep in Indian society and crimes like female infanticide and foeticide still haunt the country. It is therefore not surprising that different societies in India are increasingly facing the problem of (…)

• The US War Machine—Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

  19 April 2010, by S G Vombatkere

  The Tone of the Third Millennium
  The reprehensible Al-Qaeda attack on New York (WTC) and Washington (Pentagon) in the USA on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, set the stage for the Third Millennium in its very first year. This audacious attack on the economic and military nerve-centres of the world’s greatest power shook the then US President G.W. Bush and his administration such that nobody paused to think what might be the true cause. As expected, the attacks drew retaliatory action, later (…)

• Directionless in Agriculture

  19 April 2010, by Bharat Jhunjhunwala

  The growth rate of agriculture was three per cent and that of manufacturing was 4.5 per cent during the first three decades after independence. The growth rate for agriculture has slipped to 2.8 per cent while that for manufacturing has increased to 6.4 per cent during the last 15 years. Farmers continue to commit suicides across the country. The groundwater level is declining. The country has to import wheat, edible oils and pulses year after year.
  That said we must not ignore the (…)

• Should Dalit Christians/Muslims be excluded from Reservation?

  19 April 2010, by Ambrose Pinto

  The Ranganath Mishra Commission Report was tabled in December 2009 in Parliament. Some of its important recommendations are 15 per cent reservation to minorities in education, Central and State Government jobs and social welfare schemes in the OBC quota. Out of 15 per cent reservation for minorities, the Report recommends 10 per cent to Muslims and the remaining five per cent to other minorities. It also recommends the inclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in the list of the (…)

• In Quest for a Proactive Approach

  19 April 2010, by B K Roy Burman

  Harmonising the Gandhian Orientation for Constructive Engagement with Self-patronising Bureaucratic Narcissism on the One Hand and Militant Left Radicalism on the Other
  On April 12, the Statesman News Service (SNS) flashed the observation of a People’s Tribunal to the effect that the “entire executive and judicial administration appears to be totally apathetic to the plight of the poor, specially the tribals. Violations have now gone to the extent where fully tribal villages have been (…)

• Washington’s Motive in Central Asia and its Track Record

  19 April 2010, by Benjamin Todd

  The strategic importance of Central Asia, a region rich in oil, gas and other resources while being located in between Russia, China and the Indian subcontinent, is growing with every passing day. And the US is doggedly persisting with its efforts to reinforce its influence in that part of the globe. Washington is eager to control the local energy wealth there and regulate the so-called ‘manageable chaos’ in the area so as to exert pressure on its main rivals—Moscow and Beijing—as well as (…)

• The US War Machine—Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

  19 April 2010, by S G Vombatkere

  The Tone of the Third Millennium
  The reprehensible Al-Qaeda attack on New York (WTC) and Washington (Pentagon) in the USA on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, set the stage for the Third Millennium in its very first year. This audacious attack on the economic and military nerve-centres of the world’s greatest power shook the then US President G.W. Bush and his administration such that nobody paused to think what might be the true cause. As expected, the attacks drew retaliatory action, later (…)

• In the Wake of the Deadliest Maoist Attack

  10 April 2010, by SC

  In the deadliest Maoist attack on paramilitary forces in the Makrana forests some three kilometres from Chintalnar village in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district—and 540 kilometres soautheast of the State capital Raipur—some 76 personnel of the CRPF’s 62nd Battalion were killed in the early hours of April 6, 2010 thereby manifesting once again the adivasi-dominated Maoists’ resolute determination to resist the Indian state’s concerted efforts, through military means, to reclaim the “liberated (…)

• G.P. Koirala: A Life Dedicated to Making History

  10 April 2010, by Anand Kumar

  TRIBUTE
  The passing away of Girija Prasad Koirala, popularly known as ‘Girija Babu’, at one of the most critical junctures of democratic nation-building in Nepal and democratisation of South Asia is a great tragedy. His leaving us has left us without any ‘statesman’ in South Asia. But we can feel consoled by the fact that he has not departed without advance alert and enough pre-parations for his followers, friends and admirers.
  Girija Babu was a multifaceted leader for my (…)

• Remembering Miss C.B. Muthamma

  10 April 2010, by Lalit Uniyal

  [TRIBUTE
  Outstanding diplomat C.B. Muthamma who, as a distinguished member of the Foreign Service, headed Indian missions in several countries, passed away in Bangalore on October 15, 2009. She was a person endowed with a vision and sense of purpose—an extraordinary thinker having the interest of the nation at heart. In a few days times it will be six months since her departure from our midst. We belatedly offer our sincere tribute to her abiding memory with the following piece written (…)