Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• India 2008 : Continuing Paradox

  26 January 2008, by Karuna Thakur

  A Constitution for India framed by the Indians was arguably the best gift to Indians on the eve of independence. The transcendent goal of racial revolution was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru to the members of the Constituent Assembly in the following words:
  The first task of this assembly is to free India through a new Constitution, to feed the starving people and to clothe the naked masses and to give every Indian the fullest opportunity to develop himself according to his capacity. (…)

• How GM Crops Endanger Environment and Agriculture

  26 January 2008, by Bharat Dogra

  Recent advances in genetic engineering have emerged as one of the most important influences on the future of agricultural and food systems. With genetically engineered crops spreading rapidly to millions of hectares in countries like the USA (which export food to many countries) this is a crucial time to carefully examine the many sided impacts of genetic engineering on agriculture.
  The science of genetics was transformed by the discovery of DNA and the steady increase in knowledge about (…)

• Terrorism’s New Signature

  26 January 2008, by Subhash Gatade

  [Whether it be the suicide bombers of LTTE or the jihadists of Al Qaeda or ET guerillas working for a Basque region or the remnants of the Khalistani terrorists or for that matter terrorism unleashed by groups owning allegiance to the Hindutva brigade, the phenomenon of terrorism could be said to span every community or country in different measures.
  India has also of late witnessed a spurt in terrorist attacks. Recently we were told India stands among the top five countries of the world (…)

• Darkness in Pakistan

  26 January 2008, by Tariq Ali

  A multidimensional charade is taking place in Pakistan, and it is not an edifying sight. Pervez Musharraf has discarded his uniform and is trying to cling to power, whatever the cost.
  So far it has been high: the dismissal of the Supreme Court judges and their replacement by stooges; police brutality against a strong lawyers’ movement protesting the military assault on the judiciary; and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan as part of an ill-judged deal (…)

• Innards Of the Indian State!

  26 January 2008, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  BOOK REVIEW
  Political Violence and the Police in India by K.S. Subramanian; Sage Publication India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi; pages 257; Price 350/-
  When an insider writes about an organisation which he had served throughout his career and with which he had had a fairly complex love-hate relationship, one would have expected a light delectable anecdotal fare. Surprisingly, the reader would find in this book a serious analysis of the character of the Indian state which our rulers inherited (…)

• The Other India and Media

  26 January 2008, by Suhas Borker

  Recently, the modern epic sculpture on the freedom struggle by Debi Prasad Roy Choudhury, a tribute to the 1931 Dandi March led by Gandhiji in the imposing bronze Gyaran Murti at Willingdon Crescent in New Delhi, was mounted by The Times of India, for an advertising blitz ‘seeking India’s future leaders’ called ‘Lead India’. Gandhiji of the original sculpture was replaced by a morphed graphic figure of a young man braced up in a designer shirt-belt-trouser outfit, having as it were, just (…)

• People’s Struggles for Equality in Society

  26 January 2008, by Arun Kumar

  The most important religions and philosophies talk of equality between people. Yet, equality is hardly the defining feature of even those societies that are influenced by such ideas. In fact, over time, most societies have moved towards accepting the idea that we have to live with growing inequality. In the past thirty years material inequality has grown to reach levels seen earlier in the 1930s. India is a land of extreme contrasts with the second highest number of billionaires and the (…)

• Watershed Management—India’s Crying Need

  26 January 2008, by Suvrokamal Dutta

  The International Committee of the National Geographic Channel defines watershed on the basis of the criterion that the effect of overland flow rather than the effect of channel flow is a dominating factor affecting the peak runoff. On larger watersheds, the effect of channel flow or the basin storage effect becomes very pronounced so that such sensitivities are greatly suppressed.
  Planning and development of watersheds call for a rigorous understanding of the occurrence and movement of (…)

• Modiphobia to Modiphoria

  26 January 2008, by Som Benegal

  What transformations politics and public life can bring about! And in democracies particularly. Leaders once reviled, jeered at and abused become heroes and icons. Leaders once hero-worshipped end up defamed, defiled and denigrated. Some rare souls have the privilege of being a pendulum swinging from one side to another, and getting away with it!
  We have many examples in world history and in our own. Quick-change artists have, of course, met with ridicule for their opportunism and even (…)

• Threat To The Nation

  26 January 2008, by Shyam Chand

  Addressing the Sixth Pravasi Bhartiya Divas meet on January 7, 2008, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, announced the establishment of the PM’s Global Advisory Council of People of Indian Origin, launched the Overseas Workers Resource Centre and assured the 1500 delegates from 50 countries that ‘your security and welfare is our priority’. He also mooted an idea to set up an India Development Foundation to direct overseas Indian philanthropic effort into human development activities in (…)