Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Communist Parties have Let Down the People in Kerala

  23 May 2009, by K Saradamoni

  On May 18, 2009, the ruling CPI-M-led government in Kerala completed three years in office. There would have been rejoicing even if they did not take stock of their successes and failures. But now a reason has come for them to do not only that, but serious introspection and stock-taking too. The reason: their pathetic failure in the recent Lok Sabha elections. One would say that they would do it without anybody’s prompting. There is a difference, which I shall explain. Three years back the (…)

• Deepest Condolences to Satyapal Dang

  23 May 2009

  COMMUNICATION
  I am extremely grieved to learn that Vimla Dang, wife of Satyapal Dang, a living legend in the communist movement, passed away on May 10, after a prolonged illness. This wonderful Communist couple complemented each other in their task to achieve the ideological objective of the communist movement. I am an avid reader of Satyapal Dang’s writings in the Mainstream. His objective analysis of socio-economic and political issues in his writings are enjoyed by all perceptive (…)

• Has the Congress earned Dividend from the NREGA?

  23 May 2009, by Sitaram Kumbhar

  There are many ways of making analysis of the winner in the 15th Lok Sabha election of 2009. Believe it or not, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), a flagship scheme, and farm loan waiver of the United Progressive Alliance Government helped it in the 2009 general election, like the garibi hatao (remove poverty) slogan of Indira Gandhi did to the Congress to regain power with a magnificent win in 1971. The only difference between the NREGA and garibi hatao is that the latter (…)

• On Varun Gandhi, BJP and Advani

  23 May 2009, by Sandhya Jain

  COMMUNICATION
  I received some hate mail when I wrote the article “Varun Gandhi: Albatross Round BJP’s Neck” on March 30 (it appeared in Mainstream, April 11, 2009), but events have now unfolded as foretold, and Elections 2009 could well be designated as the Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
  The BJP has slipped in UP, far from making a comeback, and everyone who thought that the cheap ‘udhaar ka sindoor’ trick would yield easy dividends should quit the arena of politics and political (…)

• Global Challenges before the New Government

  23 May 2009, by Bharat Jhunjhunwala

  The chances of a new Congress Government being formed have increased with the party emerging as the largest and even crossing the magic number of 272 with its allies. The most important challenge before the new government will be to deal with the continuing global recession. The present thinking is that the Indian economy will look up along with the Western economies. Thus Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, declared his intention to walk side by side with the Western countries at the G-20 meet (…)

• Dalit-centric Parties may Need a New Plan

  23 May 2009, by Badri Narayan

  The diminished importance of regional parties and the rise of the national parties in these elections is also a sign that smaller parties such as the BSP need to develop more aggressive electoral strategies.
  Dalits are usually taken to be a homogeneous category that includes all the Scheduled Castes, but the ground reality in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and other States in north India is that there is plenty of space for fragmentation because of the different (…)

• Ajmer Sharief Blasts: Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence

  23 May 2009, by Subhash Gatade

  Abhinav Bharat, the Hindu extremist group involved in the Malegaon blasts, may also be the hidden hand behind the Ajmer blasts. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan Police says investigations into the blasts that shook the Ajmer Dargah in 2007, have led them to members of the Abhinav Bharat.
  In an exclusive interview to NDTV, the ATS Chief in Rajasthan, Kapil Garg, has admitted that Abhinav Bharat is now actively under their scanner. And a special team of the Rajasthan Police (…)

• Return of Indira Gandhi

  23 May 2009, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  The ground-swell in the Lok Sabha election has been a phenomenon that nobody could even remotedly foresee. Not only the political commentators, including the present one, are made to eat crow—as a famous American newspaper said about its mistaken forecast about Truman’s presidential triumph—but even the widely-patronised astrologers and godmen could do no better: for them too, it is crow and not oyster.
  While any conscientious observer would have to honestly concede the failure to (…)

• Ideological and Development War Ahead

  23 May 2009, by Kunal Ghosh

  Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Abdullah Haroon made a link in the UN between Darul Uloom Deoband in India and terrorism in Pakistan’s NWFP and FATA areas where the Al-Qaeda and Taliban ideology flourishes. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind protested to the MEA, Pak High Commission and UN Secretary-General against Pakistan opening this new front. (Ref: ‘Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Protests Pak Link’ The Times of India, Kanpur, New Delhi, December 19, 2008) In the aftermath of the Mumbai 26/11 terrorist (…)

• Talibanisation or Disintegration?

  23 May 2009, by Sukumar Pathak

  Pakistan had started out with five provinces in 1947: Punjab (its west part), North-West Frontier Province or NWFP, Sind, Baluchistan and East Bengal (or East Pakistan). Of these East Bengal seceded from the parent body after a bloody war of liberation in 1971. Among the remaining four, the North-West Frontier Province, bordering Afghanistan, has come into prominence of late because of the resurgence of the Taliban who were defeated by the Americans in 2001. The NWFP consists of six settled (…)