Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• West Bengal: Citizens Beware! Killer Convicts At Large!

  8 December 2009, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  A brief recital of the event is necessary both for the purpose of recapitulation and for putting the issue in the right context. On March 16, 1970, the Second United Front Government of West Bengal imploded entirely because of its internal contradictions. The then Chief Minister, Ajoy Mukherjee, resigned (on March 16, 1970) calling his own government “barbaric”. President’s Rule was imposed immediately. On March 17, 1970, the CPI-M called a “bandh” for the entire State. Being thrown out of (…)

• Not Sorrow but Atonement

  8 December 2009, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The following piece, which was published as ‘Political Notebook’ in Mainstream (December 12, 1992), is being reproduced on the seventeenth anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Its significance is heightened due to the tabling in Parliament and release of the Liberhan Commission report on the probe into the Babri demolition of late. —Editor
  The vandalism that brought down the Babri Masjid structure on December 6 will remain a Black Sunday in the (…)

• Rubble

  8 December 2009, by Gopal Gandhi

  You lifted one fistful of salt
  And an empire was shamed.
  Lift
  One fistful of rubble
  Now
  And pour it on our shameless heads.
  December 6, 1992, Gopal Gandhi

• In the Aftermath

  8 December 2009, by SC

  The mosque was eloquent History,
  Everything else was shrouded in mythology.
  Yet they, under the spell of fiery oratory,
  Chose to chase the mirage of a myth,
  Pull down the building
  And build hatred in their hearts
  When I, a citizen of this vast land
  With the pulsating impulse of History behind me,
  Watched helplessly in speechless agony.
  My dreams lie shattered,
  My country split
  And its future back to the tribal past.
  I know not how to atone for my immoral silence
  For (…)

• Dialogue in Democracy: Challenges for Government-Maoist Talks

  8 December 2009, by Manoranjan Mohanty

  Public opinion in India seems to be building up strongly in favour of a dialogue among the government and the Maoists. This is despite the clear indications that the Central Government is going ahead with its preparations for launching the armed offensive in the Naxalite movement areas. Yet there are signs from both the government and the Maoists that they were amenable to the idea of talks.
  Central-level Dialogue
  One thing is clear: the Central Government has taken the initiative in the (…)

• Securing a Nuclear Weapon Free World

  8 December 2009, by Saurabh Kumar

  This article was written before PM Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US as the first state guest to be hosted by President Barack Obama in the White House. But it is being published here in view of the undiminished validity of its contents.
  I. A Historic Opportunity Beckons
  More than six months after US President Obama’s public declaration of “America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons” (and that “the US will take concrete steps toward a world (…)

• Nuclear Issues: Pokhran Row

  8 December 2009, by R. Ramachandran

  DISCUSSION
  Since the days of the Shakti series of Pokhran-II underground nuclear tests, conducted jointly by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) more than 11 years ago, controversy over the yields of the devices tested, in particular that of the thermonuclear device, or hydrogen bomb (S1), has refused to go away.
  The devices of May 11, 1998—S1, S2 and S3—were exploded simultaneously as the shafts S1 and S2 were (…)

• Very Serious Scientific Data Falsification by Ramachandran-Chidambaram

  8 December 2009, by Ashok Parthasarathi, K. Santhanam, P K Iyengar

  A careful, in-depth study, of Graphs 4 and 1 of Ramachandran’s September 25, Frontline article “Pokhran Row” reveals:
  a) Graph 4 is titled: “Gamma-Ray Spectrum of a Typical Sample of a (H-bomb) Thermonuclear Test”—not of the specific H-bomb test conducted on May 11, 1998!
  b) The vertical ‘Y’ axis of Graph 4 is merely titled “Counts”
  c) There are no numbers at all on the ‘Y’ axis of both Graphs.
  Serious mistakes of physics have been committed here
  i) (…)

• India Needs a Stronger Partnership with Russia in the Emerging Multipolar World

  8 December 2009, by Arun Mohanty

  Indo-Russian relations took a serious beating in the aftermath of the sudden disintegration of the Soviet Union. Russia under Yeltsin and Kozyrev, in their unprecedented enthusiasm to de-ideologise the country’s foreign policy, made an attempt to reorient its policy towards the West and treat India at par with Pakistan, an US ally in the Cold War era. Russia voted in favour of the Pak proposal for denuclearisation of South Asia, diluted its stand on Kashmir declaring it a disputed territory (…)

• HCUSU Elections: Status of Democracy and Lyngdoh Committee’s Recommendations

  8 December 2009, by K. Rama Krishna Reddy

  Lyngdoh Committee’s Recommendations and Students’ Union Elections The Lyngdoh Committee was appointed by Government of India in 2005 under the chairmanship of the former Chief Election Commissioner of India, James Michael Lyngdoh, to frame the guidelines on Students’ Union elections in Colleges/Universities as per the directions issued by the Supreme Court of India. Its report was submitted by the Committee on May 23, 2006. The Supreme Court in October 2006 ordered that the Lyngdoh (…)