Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• A Tribute to Dr K.N. Raj

  19 March 2010, by Lalit Uniyal

  I was never a student of Dr K.N. Raj; yet he was my teacher.
  This curious circumstance came about in the following manner. Driven by an irresistible urge to work for the poor, I resigned my job with the eventual aim of working in a village. But I felt an overwhelming need for deeper social understanding, and as one influenced by Marxism, economics was an indispensable tool for this purpose. But I had never studied economics at any stage. I was in the South (to avoid my unhappy (…)

• Tribute to K.N. Raj

  19 March 2010

  TRIBUTE
  [ Professor Kakkadan Nandanath Raj, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi, who founded the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) in Thiruvananthapuram and was its Honorary Emeritus Fellow, breathed his last in Thiruvananthapuram on February 10. As a token of our tribute to his abiding memory, we reproduce here his contribution by way of an intervention at a discussion in Thiruvananthapuram (December 8, 1998)—it was carried in the Mainstream Annual Number 1998 (December (…)

• Suspend the Senior Officer involved in the Silda Fiasco

  19 March 2010, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  On February 15, 2010, around 5 pm in the late afternoon, a group of armed Maoists attacked the camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles at the Silda bazaar area. [Silda happens to be some 30 km from Midnapore town and 14 km from Jhargram in West Bengal.] They set fire to the camp and killed two-to-four riflemen while injuring a dozen others. No civilian was killed or injured by the firing. Then they decamped with 47 rifles and a large volume of ammunition.
  The Eastern Frontier Rifles is a (…)

• Towards Understanding Naxalism

  19 March 2010, by Sarabjit Kaur

  One major challenge before the Indian state today is that of Naxalism, a movement which has a long history and which over a period of time has expanded its influence and violent activities. It is now spread over 14 States covering about 160 districts. (Misra, 2008, p. 63) According to various sources, it is believed that more than 6000 people have been killed in Naxal violence in the last 20 years. This really becomes a matter of concern and hence provokes one to identify the factors which (…)

• Hijacking—Issues and Perspectives

  19 March 2010, by Latika Nath

  The word hijacking brings to mind horrific images and disturbing thoughts about air travel safety. Hijacking is now looked upon as an act of terrorism. Hijacking entered a new phase on September 9, 2001. This signified an attitudinal change in terror tactics in the world.
  The first recorded case of hijacking of a civilian airliner occurred in 1948. Thereafter, it has been used to express human rights violations, dissidence and to highlight national liberation struggles. During the (…)

• Muslim Activists’ Call to Government and Parliament

  19 March 2010

  There was a National Meet of Muslim Activists for Reservation at New Delhi on February 10, 2010. The following is the Final Statement adopted at the Meet.
  Muslim Activists for Reservation from all over the country, meeting in Delhi on February 10, 2010, have considered the Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by Justice Ranganath Mishra, former Chief Justice of India, in depth and generally welcome it and salute the Chairman and all the members (…)

• Dalit Symbolism and the Democratisation of Secular Spaces

  19 March 2010, by Harish S. Wankhede

  Introduction
  In the recent past, wider discussion and debate have been built over the issue of mega-construction works undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government. Intellectuals and social activists were worried that public money was being drained out in such a big way to build something which blatantly represents the political symbols of a particular political party. In the media also we have noticed severe criticism against these construction works by describing them as ecologically (…)

• Ukraine’s Presidential Election—Outcome and Implications

  19 March 2010, by Arun Mohanty

  Ukraine’s presidential election was watched with utmost attention by the international community as its outcome is bound to usher in serious changes in the domestic and foreign policy of that country, and transform the geopolitical landscape in the entire Eurasia space. The elimination of the incumbent Victor Yushchenko, who polled a mere five per cent in the first round, itself signals the marginalisation of pro-American Rightist forces for ever if you go by the pattern in the other CIS (…)

• Tribute to Harekrishna Debnath

  19 March 2010, by Santanu Chakraverti

  Harekrishna Debnath, veteran social activist, Chairperson of National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) and Executive Member of World Forum for Fisher Peoples (WFFP), passed away on December 30, 2009 at 11.15 am, at his residence in Ashoknagar, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. On his demise the coastal fishers’ and fishworkers’ movement and the struggle for environment and social justice suffers a great loss.
  In 2008, Debnath led what was to become one of the key milestones of the fishers’ (…)

• Marjah: The Long Haul and Naked Truth

  19 March 2010, by Bashir Mohammad

  Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited the once-Taliban refuge, Marjah, a town of 80,000 residents in the southwestern province of Helmand, along with top US and Afghan officials on March 7. However, the visit, as has been noted in a recent report in The New York Times News Service, “made clear how much further there was to go if the people of Marjah were ever to throw their loyalty behind the Afghan Government.”
  Why? Because despite Karzai trying his best to play to the crowd, that (…)