Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  It’s Enough Now, Uncle Sam!

  23 September 2008, by Suvrokamal Dutta

  Its time for the Indian Government to say to the United States of America:” It’s enough now, Uncle Sam!” As time passes by one after another explosive contents of the Indo-US nuclear deal is coming in front of the public eye. The deal right from the day one had generated a political storm here in India and it seems the days ahead would definitely not be smoother.
  Initially hell broke out here in India at the political level the moment the deal was first agreed upon in 2005 on the issue of (…)

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  Step Back from the Precipice of the Self-injurious N-Deal

  23 September 2008, by Brahma Chellaney

  Whatever happened to India’s vaunted “credible minimal deterrent”? Despite having Asia’s oldest nuclear programme, India still does not have a minimal, let alone credible, deterrent as defined by its own nuclear doctrine. Yet to secure a dubious civil nuclear deal, India is allowing the various good-faith declarations it made on July 18, 2005, to be turned into binding, enforceable international commitments. If this deal takes effect, India can forget about being a strategic peer of China. (…)

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  Politics of the Nuclear Deal

  23 September 2008, by Kamala Prasad

  Even before the Civil Nuclear Agreement between India and the USA is signed, the opinion- makers and partisans have equally displayed euphoria that does not behove a mature democracy. Our partner, the USA, is free from any such display. Sober analysts are looking at the long-term implications behind the “Deal”. That should focus on political outcomes more than just apparent economic and technological benefits that can be realistically evaluated when they come to pass.
  The period between (…)

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  Brave New Words

  23 September 2008, by Sandhya Jain

  In the heat and dust raised by the manner in which India secured a questionable waiver at the Nuclear Suppliers Group in Vienna on September 6, 2008, many opponents predicted that the nuclear deal would mean only what the Americans said it would mean. A former Indian ambassador to Turkey revealed that a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, a NATO ally of Washington, used to say: “Mr Ambassador, you cannot trust Americans on even what they have given in writing.”
  That pretty much sums up the (…)

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  Land and Food Security in Kerala: The Issues are Much Bigger

  23 September 2008, by K Saradamoni

  Land and food security, these not difficult or confusing words attracted media attention for several weeks. That is currently subsided not because the problems are resolved, but newer and more catchy issues are cropping up almost daily to attract the media. There were inter-party differences especially between the major constituents of the Left Front, namely, the CPI-M and the CPI. Perhaps it is not yet time to say that everything is amicably settled .though there are media reports about an (…)

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  Singur Agitation and Beyond

  23 September 2008, by Arup Kumar Sen

  Very recently, the Mamata Banerjee-led movement against forcible land acquisition in Singur for the Tata small-car factory has taken a new turn. The Tata Group Chairman, Ratan Tata, has given an ultimatum to the West Bengal Government that if the violence continues, the Tatas will pack up and leave, regardless of the Rs 1500 crores invested in the project. He categorically stated: “What has concerned us is the violence. We are concerned about the safety of our employees, the safety of our (…)

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  Securing Capitalist Accumulation for America’s Ruling Corporate Caste

  23 September 2008, by Eddie J Girdner

  TERROR ON TAP
  I
  America is marked, as compared to the rest of the world, with a unique feature. If at all possible, every enterprise should be geared to the making of private profit. The public spirit, as such, scarcely exists, although it is cynically alluded to. Rather, it is the profit spirit which prevails. This probably should not be surprising, as the de facto ruling class in America is the business class. Indeed, everything revolves around the “business class”, not only in (…)

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  Clinton’s Bombs for Votes

  23 September 2008, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  When the emperor has to go for elections, the subjects have to face the music. Nero was not the only one who fiddled when he let his capital being burnt down. The emperor of today cannot afford to let his capital being burnt down, because it is the only prize he covets—the acquisition of capital, that is, wealth. But to win the election, he is prepared to bomb out innocent unarmed men and women in far-away countries.
  As part of his Presidential election campaign, Clinton hit upon three (…)

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  A PM’s Scrap Book

  23 September 2008, by K S Duggal

  BOOK REVIEW
  Scrap Book of a Prime Minister by I.K. Gujral, edited by K.L. Nandan; Rajpal Publishers, New Delhi.
  Due to the proximity that I have with the Gujrals, I have been persuading IK to write his memoirs in the format of an autobiography. I am glad, I have succeeded and not long ago, he started doing so regularly. The other day Mrs Gujral told me that early one morning not finding him in the bed, she went looking for him in the house and found him in the study, busy writing. The (…)

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  Irrigation Alternative—An Analysis

  23 September 2008, by Subrata Sinha

  The colonial legacy has been haunting India even sixty years after independence. The British had cunningly devised the PWD and finance codes for all construction activities for Indians to instill a sense of guilt, besides sapping national pride and integrity. Yet, none of these basic working rules have been altered to adjust to an independent nation! Possibly the Indian rulers want to continue in a neo-colonial, master- servant mode!
  The rules call for multiple quotations for all (…)