Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Relevance of Gandhi-Nehru Nexus

  5 October 2007, by P N Haksar

  As we approach October 2—which marks this year the one hundred and thirtyeighth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth—it is necessary to once again remember that great revolutionary who not only moved millions of our countrymen in the quest of freedom but also taught us the essence of our struggle: service to the Daridranarayan. While remembering him we offer our homage to that tallest leader of our battle for emancipation from foreign yoke with the following articles; former Principal (…)

• Problem with Postmodern Gandhi

  5 October 2007, by Upasana Pandey

  The postmodern winds, which have been blowing since the 1920s, are influencing every branch of knowledge. As a result, now we have postmodern art and architecture, postmodern music and dance, postmodern philosophy and science and so on and so forth. Gandhian thinkers are also equally keen to evaluate their philosophy in this changing postmodernist scenario. Several new works in the field of Gandhian thought have emerged. Nicholas F. Gier wrote an article “Gandhi: Premodern, Modern or (…)

• Measuring the Colossus

  5 October 2007, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  The Republic of India is now thirtyeight years old. It has weathered many a storm and has come to be recognised as a functioning democracy. The tremendous interest of the voter to exercise his right to vote is taken as proof of the enduring quality of our democracy. From this phenomenon, our Prime Minister seems to have drawn the conclusion that an unlettered electorate has a wider vision, a broader outlook. According to him, literacy, “does more to narrow the vision than it does to widen (…)

• O, Gandhiji, Where Art Thou?

  5 October 2007, by Som Benegal

  Gandhigiri is much in the air, nowadays. It is, of course, with the young new generation growing up and fortunately looking around to see what the lie of land is and how they fit into it, and what they should do about it to mould it to their hearts’ desire. I do not accept the utterly mis-conceived notion that the young generation is only concerned with itself and only with the reckless up-in-the-air fun of life detached from the realities—the stark realities—on the ground. The young (…)

• Constituent Assembly Elections in Nepal

  5 October 2007, by Padmaja Murthy

  RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MARGINALISED — MADHESIS, JANAJATIS, DALITS — TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
  Jana Andolan-II of April 2006 unleashed three important developments in Nepal: first, the clipping of the powers and privileges of the monarchy drastically and declaring Nepal a secular country; second, the successful process of bringing the Maoists into the political mainstream; and third and the most unexpected, the assertion of their rights by the marginalised sections for an inclusive society. Seen in (…)

• An Open Letter to the Andhra Pradesh CM

  5 October 2007, by Shree Shankar Sharan

  Respected Chief Minister,
  I am grateful for the appointment you gave me on the 8th of September which, alas, was too late for my flight back to Delhi. Besides, there had been a wanton attempt on the life of Sri Janardan Reddy on the 7th and that, for the time being, left my agenda of talks with you in tatters.
  But in the exalted position that you are, there is no room for losing one’s head or reacting vindictively though everything must be done to protect innocent lives and enforce (…)

• Fragility of Our Secular System

  26 September 2007, by SC

  The issue of Ram Setu has suddenly become the focus of national attention overriding the basic questions related to the Sethusamudram project. Whereas the entire project should have been subjected to close scrutiny on ecological grounds and other questions like those connected with the displacement of fisherfolk from the area, the debate has been hijacked by the controversy over the affidavit filed on behalf of the Union Government and prepared by the Archaeolo-gical Survey of India wherein (…)

• Wheat Imports Lack Rationale

  26 September 2007, by Kamal Nayan Kabra

  A mammoth foreign exchange outlay is to be incurred by the Government of India as it goes ahead with import of 7.95 lakh m. tonnes (MT) of wheat at the weighted average price of $ 389.45. Statedly, the imports are for meeting the shortfall in the buffer stock at a weighted average price of $ 389.45 by December 2007. This is in addition to the decision to import, again based on international tendering, 5.11 lakh MT in July this year at a price lower by 18 per cent compared to the price (…)

• Letter to President, PM, Sonia Gandhi on Ram Setu and Sethusamudram Project

  26 September 2007, by S G Vombatkere

  Dear Madams/Sir,
  The issue at hand in the current Ram Setu controversy is whether the strip of submerged land connecting India with Sri Lanka is natural or created by human intervention, and not whether Lord Rama is a real or mythological character. The scientific data shows that the strip of land is natural. Anybody who denies the existence of Lord Rama in the minds of the people is certainly misguided and perhaps also ill-motivated.
  It is piquant that those who now oppose the (…)

• Reality behind the Bush Smokescreen

  26 September 2007, by A Gopalkrishnan

  When a US President signs a bill into an Act, he may issue a written statement implying that he differs with certain provisions of law in that Act, due to reasons he indicates in the statement. Such documents, called “Presidential Signing Statements”, were used by several past Presidents mainly to clarify constitutional positions, but the more recent ones have increasingly contained one or more challenges or objections to the laws being signed. The objections are usually on the grounds that (…)