Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Poetic Justice!

  12 December 2009, by Ranbir Singh

  The encouragement and patronage of the then Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, Harbans Lal, prompted the then Chairman of the Panchayat Samiti, Adampur (Hisar), Bhajan Lal, to join State politics in 1965. The defection of the Congress MLA from Adampur, Hari Singh Dabra, in 1967 facilitated his success in getting the Congress ticket in the 1968 mid-term elections. The defection of the only Bishnoi MLA, Mani Ram Godara, also made his task easier as Bhajan Lal was the sole serious (…)

• Cogent Analysis of Terrorism and Governance

  12 December 2009, by Vijay Kumar

  BOOK REVIEW
  Between Terrorism and Global Governance by Roberto Toscano; Har-Anand Publication; 2009; pp. 109; Price Rs 250.
  This lean but compact book hardly running into 100 pages on global governance and terrorism represents relevant and profitable fusion of academic approach with the operative insight gleaned from the experience of working as a professional diplomat in different capacities in different fora of the world. The author has identified the causes and offered concrete (…)

• A Banana Republic Indeed!

  12 December 2009

  COMMUNICATION
  The common man has always considered the judiciary to be the last resort of relief. This hope has been belied by the MP High Court’s verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy case. What a silver anniversary gift! The shameful fact that no one has yet been held responsible for the ghastly crime, adds insult to the injury suffered by the living dead of Bhopal. This case has once again proved as to how cheap human life is in our country. Whose life is it, anyway? Not that of a Minister, (…)

• Politics of Disability Estimates in India: A Research Note

  12 December 2009, by Vikash Kumar

  Introduction
  The phenomenon of disability is one of the pressing problems in the world. According to the projections of international agencies, about 10 per cent of the population are affected with physical, mental, sensory and other forms of impairments and around 75 per cent of the disabled population are concentrated in the rural and inaccessible areas of the developing societies. This data is based on recent studies carried out in various developed and developing countries as also (…)

• Tribute to N.C.

  12 December 2009

  COMMUNICATION
  P.V. Narasimha Rao’s letter to the editor of Mainstream and Chanchal Sarkar’s article (October 31) reminded me that November 3, 2009 is Nikhil-da’s 96th birth anniversary. I had the good fortune of knowing him when I was in Kolkata. I was a member of the undivided CPI. As I was associated with the Bandar Local Committee and with trade union activities, I also used to do some office work at the Central District Committee. Thus, I had the privilege of meeting many party (…)

• Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression

  12 December 2009

  DOCUMENT
  Statement of Women’s Organisations on increasing State Violence on People’s Movements and Sexual Violence on Women by the Police, Paramilitary and Army
  We, the undersigned representatives of women’s organisations and individuals, are deeply shocked and disturbed by the Indian Government’s armed offensive by paramilitary and armed forces in the adivasi-dominant forest areas of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. This (…)

• Gay Marriages: A Controversy

  12 December 2009, by Manini Garima

  A Division Bench of Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar, in its 105-page order given on July 2, 2009 on a PIL plea by Delhi-based non-government organisation Naz Foundation, said: “We declare that Section 377 of the IPC (the controversial law on homosexuality which goes back 149 years when Lord Macaulay introduced the section in the IPC) insofar as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21 [Right to Protection of Life and Personal (…)

• Respect Samatha Judgement, End Hostilities, Start Dialogue

  12 December 2009

  The following is a statement issued on behalf of the Citizens Initiative for Peace.
  While there were indications from the government as well as the Maoists some time back that they were prepared to consider the idea of a dialogue as proposed by the Citizens Initiative for Peace and other groups, the CIP notes with deep concern that operations by the security forces of the Central and State governments have already been launched in several States causing untold miseries to the tribal people (…)

• Shame of Bhopal, Real Test at Copenhagen

  8 December 2009, by SC

  The world’s biggest industrial disaster took place in Bhopal on December 3, 1984 taking a toll of 20,000 lives and affecting 5.69 lakh people. The twentyfifth anniversary of that massive mishap at the Union Carbide plant in the city is being observed across the country today.
  That disaster is a crying shame for all our citizens. Why? For three reasons. First, the real culprit behind the mishap, the Union Carbide management, got away real cheap—the Union Government reached a (…)

• World Communist Meet in New Delhi: My Impressions and Suggestions

  8 December 2009, by Chaturanan Mishra

  The Eleventh International Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties took place in New Delhi on November 20-22, 2009. At its conclusion there was a public meeting at the Capital’s Mavlankar Hall. It took the shape of a mass reception for the delegates who participated in the Meeting. I attended the function. From the dais the slogan—“Workers of the World, Unite!”—was repeatedly raised. On hearing the slogan I told my CPM friends: “….but the workers of India must remain divided!” (…)