Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Feb 10, 2024

  9 February 2024

  Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Feb 10, 2024
  Discrediting the adversary by denigrating his/her integrity is a well-known strategy among conservative and right-wing circles, among others. India’s RSS trained Prime Minister Narendra Modi while replying on February 5, in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, more or less entirely focused on bad-mouthing the opposition Congress party, its leadership, and policies —where he repeatedly attacked Jawaharlal Nehru, (…)

• Despite Nitish Kumar’s Betrayal Bihar Will Play a Pivotal Role in the Battle to Save India from the Disastrous Modi Rule | Dipankar Bhattacharya

  9 February 2024

  ML Update - 31 January 2024
  [Editorial by Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML) Liberation]
  Nitish Kumar has switched sides yet again. An arrogant BJP which was claiming to have shut its doors for ever for Nitish Kumar has again embraced him as Chief Minister of NDA. Nitish Kumar, who had vowed to prefer death to again joining hands with the BJP, has reneged on his vow to return to the BJP’s fold. Ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the BJP was desperate to (…)

• Saffron Threats May Scuttle the Gains of Rahul’s Twin Yatras | Arun Srivastava

  9 February 2024

  Rahul Gandhi must be feeling gratified and elated at the massive response and support his both Yatras, Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, have elicited from the common people across the country. His idea of love has no doubt attracted the peoples’ fancy. But it is not certain how far he has succeeded in his endeavour to set a new ideological narrative and whether it has really aroused peoples’ passion to combat rightist challenges and threats and make them vote out the RSS (…)

• Transgender Persons at Delhi’s Traffic Lights | Sonu Chauhan

  9 February 2024

  The traffic signals are the major source of livelihood for transgender persons in Delhi. Apart from earning, they face various issues at such places.
  In Delhi, millions of vehicles move on roads in different parts of the capital every day. A large chunk of the population of this city works in public and private offices, small and medium industrial units, shops, restaurants, etc. People in this city generally travel on their bikes, cars, public buses, cabs, and autos. All such vehicles move (…)

• Once we respected and loved each other | Humra Quraishi

  9 February 2024, by Humra Quraishi

  8 February 2024
  In the midst of all the surcharged communal poisoning unleashed all around, last week there stood out one great heart-touching picture…Coming from Jammu, it showed a young Sikh gentleman rushing with an umbrella towards an elderly Muslim man offering namaaz along the roadside, unmoving even in the midst of a sudden downpour! I kept gazing at those visuals for minutes at a stretch. Even right now, just before starting to write this column I kept seeing those visuals. (…)

• Interim Budget 2024-25 : Some Observations | Atul Sarma & Shyam Sunder

  9 February 2024

  As is well known, Interim Budget / Vote on account is meant to seek authorization of Parliament to carry on spending on important schemes until the new government assumes office. But this is a pre-election document. It is not expected to make any major policy announcements though this is not strictly adhered to, The FM has seized the opportunity to showcase the achievements of the government since the BJP government came to power almost ten years ago.
  Interim Budget was cast in the (…)

• Budgets in India Need Much Higher Commitment to Reducing Poverty and Inequality | Bharat Dogra

  9 February 2024, by Bharat Dogra

  As India is a leading developing country there is considerable interest worldwide in its fiscal policy and budgets and any interesting ideas generated here attract much wider attention. To give just two examples, India’s ability to start a rural employment guarantee scheme (even though the guarantee part has not been implemented in the true spirit) and more recently to extend the free food grain rations started during COVID times for a further five years (even though nutrition problems (…)

• BJP Government created a Graveyard of “Guarantees”: CPI MP Binoy Viswam

  9 February 2024, by Binoy Viswam

  Press Release 08 February 2024
  Speaking on the 2024-25 interim budget CPI parliamentary party leader Binoy Viswam said in Rajya Sabha that apart from giving farce promises, the government has failed in making a productive and fruitful interim budget that targets the welfare of the people. He said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman is going on making guarantees akin to Narendra Modi. “The country has the right to ask the government what happened to the previous guarantees made by BJP (…)

• BJP Anti-Tribal By Nature, Remembers Them Only Before Elections: CPI MP Binoy Viswam in Rajya Sabha

  9 February 2024, by Binoy Viswam

  Press Release 06 February 2024
  CPI parliamentary party leader Binoy Viswam while speaking on the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment Bill), 2024 and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment Bill) 2024 launched a frontal attack on Narendra Modi led BJP Government for its anti-tribal positions. The BJP government is controlled by the RSS, which believes in the ideology of Manuvad, said Viswam. BJP’s claims on tribal welfare are false and they exhibit a (…)

• Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur: Appropriating icons for political end | Prem Singh

  9 February 2024, by Prem Singh

  On the occasion of the birth centenary of Karpoori Thakur (24 January 1924–17 February 1988), several programs have been organized at different parts of the country from January 2023 till now. But the coverage of those programs in the mainstream media was negligible. Information about those programs was available only on social media. Articles and comments discussing Karpoori Thakur’s personality, politics and ideology were also published on social media and in a few small magazines. As soon (…)