Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Ramchandra Gandhi—Philosopher and Teacher

  7 July 2007, by Sagari Chhabra

  TRIBUTE
  Ramchandra Gandhi, writer, philosopher and the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, died in India International Centre, on June 13, appropriately perhaps, because to Ramu, as he was known to both friends and acquaintances, the IIC was like a second home. He would work in the library and then just sit in the courtyard doing what he did best—philosophising.
  He was the author of several books including ‘Sita’s Kitchen’; the shrine—sita’s rasoi buried under the debris of the Babri (…)

• An Exemplary Revolutionary

  7 July 2007

  A Book of Condolence was kept open at the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba on June 25-26, 2007 for Vilma Espin Guillois who had passed away on June 18, 2007 at 4.14 pm after a prolonged and painful illness.
  Who was Vilma? Her role in the Cuban Revolution is perhaps legion to every citizen in that country. At the time of her demise, she was a member of the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba, Member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, President of the Federation of (…)

• Age of the Nonaligned

  7 July 2007

  The following piece is being reproduced for the benefit of the US Secretary of State.
  The river of History looks placid: only when the snows melt on the high mountains do floods break the banks and sweep away all the dirt and refuse. And so do epochal changes in the journey of humankind: they come without fanfare, but they hurtle down upon the world with elemental fury sweeping away the debris of yesterday and freshen up the soil for the golden crop of tomorrow.
  The Nonaligned Summit (…)

• Enough is Enough!

  2 July 2007, by SC

  The battle for the presidency is descending to the level of present-day parliamentary or legislative debates distinguished by subjective, personalised onslaughts on political opponents and the murky trading of charges during election campaigns. The manner in which the UPA-Left’s nominee for the office of the President, the first women candidate for the post, is being subjected to attacks by interested quarters trying to bring out skeletons from her cupboard is indeed quite unprecedented. (…)

• Left and Right in Time of New Cold War in Europe

  2 July 2007, by Ash Narain Roy

  “If your enemies can’t find a flaw in your reasoning”, said William Hazlitt, “they will quickly find one in your reputation.” With its economy booming and most Commonwealth of Independent States back in its fold despite the US attempts to cage the bear on its own turf, Russia is on the way to recovering its past glory. And that is unsettling Washington. Hence the new strategy to balkanise it in Eastern Europe. Any state worth its salt would see this hidden game. And when Russia resents, (…)

• The WTO, Governments and People’s Movements

  2 July 2007, by Bharat Dogra

  It is widely believed that this year some important agreements are likely to be reached in the so-called Doha Development Round of WTO (World Trade Organisation) negotiations. However, as things stand today the prospects of the developing countries appear to be quite dim in terms of protecting their interests or making any gains. It is being increasingly said that this so-called development round offered hardly any development gains to poor and developing countries and in fact doesn’t (…)

• Nikhil Chakravartty

  2 July 2007

  On June 27 this year falls Nikhil Chakravartty’s ninth death anniversary. On this occasion we reproduce the ‘Political Notebook’ by S. Viswam in the first issue of Mainstream to appear on July 4, 1998 following N.C.’s demise, the then President K.R. Narayanan’s message on N.C.’s death, and two articles by P.C. Joshi and Lalit Uniyal on N.C. (published in Mainstream, July 11, 1998).
  Death snatched away from Indian journalism last week (June 27, 1998) one of its most illustrious (…)

• Remembering Nikhilda

  2 July 2007, by Lalit Uniyal

  I first met Nikhilda around the time when I was leaving for my chosen work in the village. I had only just returned to the North from K.N. Raj’s Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram). There was an unpublished piece with me that I had written on economic development, and somebody advised me to contact Nikhilda, which I did. He asked me to come over to his Kaka Nagar residence. He sat in his special great chair and heard me very attentively. He was interested in (…)

• Message from the President

  2 July 2007

  The following is the message of K.R. Narayanan, the President of India, on the demise of Nikhil Chakravartty.
  Quietly and unobtrusively as he lived, Nikhil Chakravartty has slipped out of life. At once gentle and formidable, his was the most seasoned voice in Indian journalism. Over a period of five-and-a-half decades, Nikhil Chakravartty witnessed human affairs with the impatience of a rebel and at the same time with the dispassion of a historian. Committed socialist that he was, Nikhil (…)

• Open Letter to the Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

  2 July 2007

  We, the undersigned, urge the authorities of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to review the recent decision of the Proctorial Board to rusticate seven students. This course of action was deemed fit in view of the gherao of the JNU’s Registrar by students on February 19, 2007. However, the gherao by students cannot be viewed in isolation and ought to be viewed in its proper context. The mistreatment and exploitation of contract workers and labourers employed for building construction had (…)