Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Labour Unrest in Noida Industrial Belt | Obhimonyu Alam

  1 May

  A wave of labour unrest swept across the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi in April 2026. Feelings of discontent among workers over issues of inadequate wages, rising cost of living, and inhospitable working conditions have been brewing under the surface from at least early February. Reports of sporadic, small-scale agitations have trickled in from Barauni (Bihar), Panipat (Haryana), Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh), and Surat (Gujarat).
  The most recent spark to the spreading of the (…)

• Growing Economy, Shrinking Opportunities: India

  1 May

  India

• The Price of Disposability: What the Noida Protests Tell Us About Indian Labour | Himadri Sekhar Mistri & Sanjay Kumar

  1 May

  The Noida-Delhi industrial belt witnessed intense unrest in the recent past. Workers who were protesting were called rioters as the message of violence was spread. The arrest was dubbed a restoration of order. Some officials instantly asserted that there were anti-national forces at work in the unrest. It even received a Pakistani twist. In India in 2026, it appears that no demonstration can be lawful until it is referred to a foreign hand. This framing needs to be analysed carefully. The (…)

• Is 135 Workdays a Viable Guarantee or a Smokescreen? | Amal Mandal

  1 May

  An unanticipated increase in the guaranteed workdays from 100 to 125 for the willing rural households is one pivot of the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (GRAMG). However, the absence of explicit intent or rationale raises apprehension about whether the expanded perimeter is a dynamic commitment, a viable pledge, rhetoric, a deflecting tactic or a smokescreen.
  The 125 days of work seems one standalone guarantee in the sense that the preceding (…)

• Ambedkar Jayanti and the Republic at the Sewer

  1 May

  Every year on 14 April, the Indian Republic pays homage to Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution, a fierce opponent of caste oppression and a lifelong champion of social justice. The rituals are by now well established: floral tributes, commemorative speeches, and repeated affirmations of equality, dignity, and justice. But Ambedkar

• From Citizens to Consumers: Market Logics in Telangana

  1 May

  The Telangana Education Commission (TEC), chaired by former IAS officer, Akunuri Murali, has recently submitted its report, now referred to as the Telangana Education Policy (TEP). Framed as a blueprint for

• Do these SIR hampered elections denote Democracy | Faraz Ahmad

  1 May, by Faraz Ahmad

  Whatever be the results of the West Bengal Assembly elections, where the last round of polling completed on Wednesday, 29 April, under the menacing eyes of an

• Why Is a Tractor Taxed Like a Luxury Car?

  1 May, by Rajan Kshirsagar

  Imagine

• Algebra of Revolution Revisited: From Newtonian Stasis to Quantum Emergence | Sindhunil Barman Roy

  1 May

  For over a century, the Algebra of Revolution

• How ideologies harm freedom | Sukumaran C.V.

  1 May, by Sukumaran C.V.

  When I recently finished reading Leor Zmigrod’s book: The Ideological Brain: How Rigid Beliefs Harm our Minds & Bodies and Why it Matters, the book helped me to see the harms I have incurred myself due to my blind adherence to an ideology. I have already realised the damages ideologies do both to the society and the individuals who hold the ideologies, and discarded all kinds of ideologies long ago. But it is Smigrod’s book that helped me to see the pernicious damages the ideologies do (…)