Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• On P.C. Joshi and Communist Unity : A Response

  25 June 2007, by Satyapal Dang

  The article “Let Us be Sincere about PCJ’s Centenary” by Com Diwan Singh Bajeli (Mainstream, April 14, 2007) criticising my article “CPI-M and P.C. Joshi: A Rejoinder” (Mainstream, September 23, 2006) was seen and read by me only on April 23, 2007 as I received the issue by post only on that day and noticed the article late in the evening. Unfortunately I cannot find the issue dated September 23, 2006 and the copy of my handwritten article will take long to trace. I, therefore, have to send (…)

• Asiad Games versus the Poor

  25 June 2007, by Rajindar Sachar

  I am greatly relieved that the Asiad Games bid by the Government of India has failed. I know, I am inviting the charge of being anti-patriotic and sports-spoiler but I feel so strongly about it that I am prepared to take the risk of being so charged, which in fact is not true.
  Let me at once disabuse anyone of my being anti-sports. In my college days in 1945, I was Triple holder of Punjab Tennis Championship. So at best my bonafides should not be suspicious.
  My opposition arises from (…)

• Implications of Unimaginative Politics

  25 June 2007, by Dev N Pathak

  The doyen of sociologists, M.N. Srinivas, wrote toward the fag end of his sociological engagement, distilling his understanding on the inevitable connection between caste and politics in India, that Indians are ‘living in a revolution’. (1986) The revolution was quintessential of a democracy such as India and the moorings of this revolution were the constitutional elements of adult franchise, protective discrimination and land reforms. He foresaw a violent turn in the revolution pitched in (…)

• If Kashmir is Disputed so can be Pakistan?

  25 June 2007, by Suvrokamal Dutta

  For several years now Pakistan and its dictatorial regimes have questioned the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India by stating and restating it again and again that the State of Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory. By applying the same logic the identity of Pakistan and its existence as a sovereign political state can be questioned by India and the Indian Government by taking the logic from International Law itself.
  As per the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties (…)

• At Home and Abroad

  19 June 2007, by SC

  Eventually the UPA has been able to find a nominee for the President’s post: Pratibha Patil. A good choice no doubt—the first woman to occupy the office of head of state; because despite the NDA-backed Independent candidate, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, being a redoubtable figure whose political stature is exceedingly high and whose influence extends far beyond the confines of the saffron political party he subscribed to, the votes of the UPA constituents and its supporting (…)

• In Search of a President

  19 June 2007, by Prem Singh

  The Indian Express has initiated a debate on the qualities and the role of the President of India—a debate that would expectedly prove fruitful and significant since the nation is soon about to elect its next President. The present President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam retires on July 24, 2007. In an article published in the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar (May 31, 2007) titled Agla Rashtrapati Kaisa Ho? I submitted that the ongoing discussion regarding the election of the future President of India is (…)

• SEZ: Tinkering Won’t Help—the Law should be Repealed

  19 June 2007, by Bharat Dogra

  Protests against Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been reported from several parts of the country. These are basically the struggles of people trying to protect their land and livelihood. These sporadic struggles and their demands are highly justified, but these are not adequate. What is needed is nothing less than a complete repeal, a definite nullifying of the piece of legislation called the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (Act No. 28 of 2005, dated June 23, 2005). It is such an (…)

• On Poverty, Food Inadequacy and Hunger in West Bengal

  19 June 2007, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  The National Sample Survey Organisation of the Government of India published a report entitled “Perceived Adequacy of Food Consumption in Indian Households 2004-2005”. This is based on NSS 61st Round, July 2004-June 2005. This report has made some damaging disclosures regarding non-availability of food to the rural households throughout the year in various States of the country. It has made a very short and pithy analysis of the food availability status of different States.
  It has (…)

• Slower Poverty Reduction but Increasing Inequality

  19 June 2007, by Ruddar Datt

  THE STORY OF GROWTH IN THE POST-REFORM PERIOD
  Planning Commission’s Estimate of Poverty on the basis of 61st Round of NSS—2004-05
  The NSSO results on the basis of large sample survey data on household consumer expenditure (NSS 61st Round) for 2004-05 are the basis of poverty estimates. The data were collected on uniform recall period (URP) using 30-days for all items. The data was also available using 365 days for five frequently purchased non-food items, namely, clothing, footwear, (…)

• To Acquiesce

  19 June 2007, by Sagari Chhabra

  Some years ago, I went to Pararia in Bihar. The women there had been brutally gang-raped by police-men. The judgement in the courts had gone against the women and as Nimmi Devi said: “The police went scot-free, some even got promoted.” I was shooting a film on rape, ‘Now, I Will Speak’, and one of the rapists came to intimidate the women and myself at the site; obviously to stop the story from breaking out. I continued to film the testimonies of several women, each of whom told me how they (…)