Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  Whither Washington Consensus?

  19 August 2008, by Girish Mishra

  The ideological basis of the ongoing phase of globalisation is ‘Washington Consensus’, which some people call ‘neo-liberalism’ or ‘market fundamentalism’. The Washington Consensus was propounded by John Williamson in 1990. It indicated a set of policies that were prescribed by certain Washington-based institutions in 1989 originally to Latin American countries for adoption. These institutions included the US Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, and Trade Department besides the IMF, World (…)

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  US’ Grand Game in Central Asia

  19 August 2008, by Ash Narain Roy

  In 1904, British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder wrote: “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the world.” A hundred years later, the heart (centre) of the world has moved east. Were Mackinder to write today, he would have said: “Who rules Central Asia commands the world.” It is this critical importance of the region that explains why Central Asia is witnessing a new “Great Game” today with the US vying for influence with Russia and China. It was (…)

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  Calibrating Change

  19 August 2008, by Uttam Sen

  Second thinking thrown up by recent discourse could be suggesting a consensual paradigm. This has to do with change in the political economy since the 1990s and its ingress into the nature of both contestation within and absorption into the system. Prior to that, the State (bureaucracy), landed property and industrial capital shared power with no one in possession of a decisive say over the other. Negotiation and contestation for representation were conducted through elections. However, (…)

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  Political Scene In The Wake Of Trust Vote

  19 August 2008, by Amitava Mukherjee

  The tussle between the Manmohan Singh Government and the Opposition over the nuclear deal is now over. The UPA has scored a convincing victory in Parliament. The Left, particularly Prakash Karat, the CPM General Secretary, has been forced to bite the dust. Somnath Chatterjee, by his refusal to resign from the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker, has shown that his party is no more a disciplined or regimented one. Mayawati, who suddenly dreamt of becoming the Prime Minister, has discovered to her (…)

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  Quest for Justice

  18 August 2008, by Avijit Pathak

  Book Review
  Justice: Political, Social, Juridical, by Rajeev Bhargava, Michael Dusche and Helmut Reifeld (eds); Sage Publication, New Delhi; 2008; p. 325; Price Rs 650.
  We live in a world that continues to surprise us with its paradoxes. Yes, it is a world that promises justice, human dignity and equality. Yet, we find ourselves amidst structures, institutions and everyday practices that continue to degrade our humanity, and reproduce the ethos of violence, hierarchy and exploitation. (…)

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  Independence Day Special - August 16, 2008

  18 August 2008

  We have achieved political freedom but our revolution is not yet complete and is still in progress, for political freedom without the assurance of the right to live and to pursue happiness, which economic progress alone can bring, can never satisfy a people. Therefore, our immediate task is to raise the living standards of our people, to remove all that comes in the way of the economic growth of the nation. We have tackled the major problem of India, as it is today the major problem of Asia, (…)

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  Bridging the Divide in J&K

  10 August 2008, by SC

  The all-party meeting called by the UPA Government to tackle the Jammu unrest and bridge the J&K divide was indeed overdue. While it is true that differences did surface between the BJP, which projected the feelings of the agitators in jammu demanding immediate restoration of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), and the PDP and NC, which highlighted the public sentiments in the Kashmir Valley, such divergences were quite natural in the circumstances as those mirrored the (…)

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  Can We Fail Any Lower?

  10 August 2008, by Rajindar Sachar

  The whole drama of the confidence-seeking vote in Parliament on the nuclear deal reminded me of what transpired during the 2000 US Presidential election between Gore and Bush. During the counting, the votes cast in the State of Florida had assumed decisiveness for victory. Gore wanted all the votes to be recounted as a short sample had shown that many invalid votes had been counted in favour of Bush, and a total recount will put Gore, as the winner. Bush naturally opposed. The matter landed (…)

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  Tribute to Harkishan Singh Surjeet

  10 August 2008, by SC

  In the afternoon of August 1, 2008 passed away in NOIDA’s Metro Hospital, former CPM General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, 92, after a prolonged illness. Since he relinquished the post of party General Secretary in 2005 he had been ailing and due to ill-health and advanced age could not meaningfully contribute towards shaping the course of as well as effectively intervene in the country’s political developments to the detriment of the nation and its people at large.
  This is not (…)

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  Election-Eve Political Scene

  10 August 2008, by Harkishan Singh Surjeet

  The last four years have been years of great disappointment for the toiling millions of the country. These have been years showing the failure of the Central Government to fulfill the pledges given to the people. The policies pursued by the Central Government have been influenced by the dictates of the World Bank. Removal of the subsidies which were meant to help the producer and the consumer, invitation to multinationals in the name of technological advance and import liberalisation, (…)