Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, July 27, 2024

  27 July 2024

  Since 1966 there had been a ban in place on government employees participating in activities of organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that propagates Hindutva supremacism & the Jamaat e Islami that pushes an Islamist ideology. Official circulars issued by successive governments in 1966, 1970 and 1980 maintained these restrictions and the All India Service Conduct Rules for civil servants reflected these to maintain the neutrality of the state officials and prevent (…)

• Celebrating Sovereignty of People | Suranjita Ray

  27 July 2024, by Suranjita Ray

  The election verdict for the 18th Lok Sabha saw celebrations across the country. The celebration was not confined to the victory of the political party or parties that would form the government. The mandate was also celebrated by many for electing a strong opposition alliance. As a strong opposition party privileges debates, discussions, agreements, disagreements, and dissent on issues of concern, it remains critical for the idea and practice of democracy. We see that the political parties (…)

• Why fewer cities are game to host the Olympics | Alexandre Faure

  27 July 2024

  Paris marks a shift in the way the IOC awards hosting rights for the Olympics.
  The way cities host the Olympic Games is changing.
  Staging the event has become such a burden, fewer cities are interested in going to the trouble.
  It has meant the International Olympic Committee has had to find a new way of making the games attractive to potential hosts.
  In 2017, Paris and Los Angeles were nominated to host the 2024 and 2028 Games. This double nomination was unprecedented and has (…)

• This Bengali ritual is a cure for loneliness | Ananya Chatterjee

  27 July 2024

  As an antidote to loneliness, the Bengali adda culture has no equal.
  Adda is a way of life and key to happiness for many Bengalis.
  Adda can be characterised as the practice of friends gathering together for extended and informal conversations. People can spend hours in adda sessions.
  Some of the traditional spaces of adda would be parlours of middle-class houses, narrow ledges along residential houses called rawk, teashops, sports pavilions, the canteens of schools and colleges.
  It (…)

• Toward an Explanation of the Radical | David S. D’Amato

  27 July 2024

  In his introduction for Ivan Illich’s Celebration of Awareness, Erich Fromm defined radicalism not as “a certain set of ideas,

• The Union Budget 2024-25: Primacy of Political Compulsions | P. S. Jayaramu

  27 July 2024, by P S Jayaramu

  July 24, 2024
  The Union Budget was presented by the Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman on the 23rd of July 2024. This was a Budget, in a true sense, prepared under the compulsions of Coalition Government as tbe BJP could not get a majority on its own in the recent Lok Sabha elections and had to depend on the Telugu Desam and the Janata Dal (U) to form the government.
  Coalition compulsions are all too evident throughout the Budget. The fact that the Budget speaks of the Central (…)

• RSS-BJP Struggle for Hindu Hridaya Samrat Intensifies | Arun Srivastava

  27 July 2024

  MARXISTS, COMMUNISTS AND those who claim to be ardent followers of Marxist-Leninist ideology ought to take a few lessons from the latest RSS action; dump Narendra Modi – the public face of the saffron ecosystem – to protect and preserve the basic philosophy of the politics of Hindutva. Modi though, during his ten years of rule, put his best efforts out to prepare the ground for hastening the RSS mission of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra, the parent organisation disapproves of his (…)

• Budget 2024-25: An Aura of Words for States other than Bihar & Andhra Pradesh | SS Sangwan

  27 July 2024

  The transfers to all states through Finance Commission Grants is lower by 6 % in BE over the revised estimates of 2023-24. Even it has decreased by about 20 % in the last year. Under discretionary grants, the allocation has increased by about 18 % compared to 5 % in the previous year. There is increase in transfer through centrally sponsored schemes by about 10 % compared 5 % in the last year. It also support that transfer to states as per political considerations have increased in the last (…)

• Yes, the Subaltern Speaks! | Ajay Kumar Mishra

  27 July 2024

  Introduction
  My encounter with a subaltern voice comes from an anecdote involving a poor, widowed Dalit woman, approximately 55 years old, mother to four daughters, who arrived barefoot to secure college admission for one of her daughters. Upon receiving admission approval, her eyes gleamed with hope. This subaltern is vocal about her reality and dreams. The realisation of her dreams now hinges on the mainstream’s willingness to address subaltern educational aspirations. In the meantime, (…)

• Tribute to Samar Bagchi | Suresh Khairnar

  27 July 2024, by Suresh Khairnar

  It must have been 1990-91 after I became friends with Samar Da. We used to sometimes go to Calcutta Coffee House to hang out. One day we were both sitting at a corner table in the coffee house. After some time, three-four youngsters, including a girl, stood up with diaries in their hands and started saying autograph please. Samar Da said smilingly, "Suresh, they are asking for your autograph." I said, "Not at all, they have come for your autograph." Because Samar Bagchi was probably India’s (…)