Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Report of a Conference on Indo-US Nuclear Deal

  26 September 2007

  A Conference was held on September 13, 2007 in New Delhi at the initiative of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh on the theme of “Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Implications for Democracy and Sovereignty”. Besides V.P. Singh those who spoke at the meet included Dr A. Gopalakrishnan, former Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulation Board; A. B. Bardhan, General Secretary of the CPI; Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the CPI-M; RSP leader Abani Roy; Forward Bloc leader Debabrata Biswas; Dr Meher Engineer, (…)

• India and the US in ’nuclear deal’ - The Tribal and the Moneylender

  26 September 2007, by Jean Dreze

  Those who applaud India’s “nuclear deal” with the United States would do well to read Gopinath Mohanty’s beautiful novel Paraja, where hapless tribals often make “deals” with the local sahukar (moneylender), who has overwhelming power over them. For instance, young men go to the sahukar when they are in dire need of money to get married (bride-price was customary among the Parajas of Orissa), and agree to work as bonded labourers until the money is repaid. But the sahukar keeps shifting the (…)

• In the Wake of US Double-Standards

  26 September 2007

  The US State Department’s sanctions against Russian military equipment and weapon producers within the framework of the “counter Iran non-proliferation” law do not enjoy any international legitimacy. The true reason behind these American sanctions under such an invented pretext is related to the Russian special exporters’ success in the world military market at the expense of US military concerns; additionally the imposition of these sanctions is linked to the US objective of containing (…)

• Chicken-heart

  26 September 2007, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  The unprovoked shooting down of an Iranian civilian airbus by the US warships in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf on July 3 killing nearly 300 innocent lives, has shocked the world public.
  In a pathetic bid to cover up this ghastly crime by the American armada, President Reagan called it “a terrible human tragedy” but sought to justify it by saying that it was “a proper defensive action” by the US Navy. Through a series of false insinuations, the US Chairman of the (…)

• Indo-US Nuclear Deal, Congress and CPM

  26 September 2007

  Does the nation deserve the caricature being enacted by almost all the political parties, particularly the Left, over the proposed Indo-US nuclear deal? It must be admitted that the Congress, in spite of its penetration by Washington followers like Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram and the presence of weathercocks like Pranab Mukherjee, has at least shown some amount of consistency although it has always been on the predictable line of kowtowing to US interests. The BJP lost credibility by (…)

• Independence of Contradictions

  26 September 2007, by Amna Mirza

  Here comes the echo of celebration of sixty years of India’s Independence. The by-lanes of history have another story to tell. Fifteenth August, 1945 was the day when the Second World War came to an end, after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. The aftermath of the nuclear holocaust continues to haunt the psyche of humanity till today. The nuclear race unleashed after this event has been unprecedented in its own. The question of stockpiles and dangers of annihilation (…)

• Release Veteran Burmese Journalist U Win Tin

  26 September 2007

  Recently, on August 18, 2007, a public meeting was held in New Delhi under the aegis of the Convention for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma to reiterate solidarity with the struggle for democracy in Burma and demand the immediate release of veteran Burmese journalist, U Win Tin.
  Presided over by former Defence Minister George Fernandes, MP, the meeting was addressed by former PM I.K. Gujral; former Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh, MP; Dr Tin Swe, MP, of the (…)

• Unemployed India At Sixty : The Reality Bites

  26 September 2007, by Suvrokamal Dutta

  Economic reforms have no doubt ushered in an economic boom in India but this boom hasn’t created any jobs.
  The Ninth Five-Year Plan had projected that 54 million new jobs would be generated from 1997 to 2002 but the performance has fallen very short of its target as in the past. India’s labour force is growing at a rate of 2.5 per cent annually but its employment rate is growing only at the rate of 2.3 per cent; thus the country faces the challenge of not only absorbing new entrants in (…)

• India’s Options for Economic Progress : Clues from South Korea

  26 September 2007, by O P Sha, R Sharma

  India has become known in recent years as a centre of competence in operating and servicing Information Technology—and the thrust of public policies over the last few years has been on the IT and software-related industries. Even the media has created an impression that the Indian economy can drive its growth on this IT and software sector. This impression is fundamentally flawed.
  Information Technology and software account for only 1.5 per cent of the world’s GDP. The share of India (…)

• Another Leap towards Land Reforms in J&K

  26 September 2007, by Ashish Saxena

  reflections on implementation of Renewed Roshni Act in the State
  Land tenure institutions and their reform have a direct bearing on the question of development. Land reform in J&K is considered to be a success story. The first phase of reform was introduced in the early 1950s (Khatama chakdari in Samvat 2007): this was land reform-I. Recently, the J&K Assembly passed the Roshni Bill on Feburary 9, 2007 and it is claimed that this bill will provide ownership of 16.6 lakh kanals (…)