Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Delhi University & the Rise of a Necropolis | B Madhavan

  16 September 2023, by B. Madhavan

  This piece laments the loss of academic freedom, classroom spaces, and good teachers at the University of Delhi.
  It’s been roughly 6 months since Delhi University replaced half of its teaching faculty. When this shameful process came to the doorstep of my department, it was the winter semester exams. It was also my first winter ever, covered in multiple layers and I still couldn’t protect myself from a shiver running through my body from the cold fear of losing some very good teachers. (…)

• Re-imagining our Religion | Arup Kumar Sen

  16 September 2023, by Arup Kumar Sen

  Very recently, the activist-singer, T. M. Krishna, has reminded us of the fluidity of our religious tradition. He argued: “Meanings are not constant; they are added, deleted, built upon, twisted, overturned. The import of a word also changes with place, time, context, and reason. This is true of Sanatana Dharma too…The words Sanatana Dharma and Hindutva have been coupled by the Hindu right wing. Many who spout these words carry out attacks on Muslims, Christians, and Dalits…Those desirous of (…)

• G20 with a hope and a prayer | Jawed Naqvi

  16 September 2023, by Jawed Naqvi

  THE inveterate Hindu in him spurred the British prime minister to take time off from the G20 summit to offer prayers at Delhi’s riverside Akshardham temple. In so doing, he picked up a politically handy applause from the hosts even if the trade pact both eyed has apparently hit the doldrums.
  Rishi Sunak could have more usefully nudged his Catholic friend from the US to attend the Sunday mass at Delhi’s British-era Sacred Heart Cathedral Church. After all, according to a worrying new survey (…)

• G20 New Delhi Summit: A Reality Check and Case of Missing Priorities | Dipankar Bhattacharya (ML Update Sept 13, 2023)

  16 September 2023

  A year-long series of G20 events spread over India’s vast and diverse urban landscape concluded with the 18th summit meeting in New Delhi on 8-10 September. Since this was the first such major international event hosted by India after the 1983 Non-Aligned Movement summit and the 2010 Commonwealth Games, it understandably attracted a great deal of public attention not just in India but also internationally.
  Unlike G7, G20 is not a cozy club of the world’s richest countries, it has several (…)

• Mystery behind Trudeau’s delayed departure | Faraz Ahmad

  16 September 2023, by Faraz Ahmad

  [Special on September 19, 2023]
  Mystery shrouds the 36-hour delay in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s departure after the G20 summit held here in New Delhi from September 8 to 10, with visible diplomatic implications for Indo-Canadian relations.
  Trudeau arrived here on September 8 and was scheduled to fly back home at the conclusion of the Summit on September 10. He was accompanied by his son Xavier, 16. Trudeau had separated from his wife Sophie Gregorie barely a month ago and (…)

• Dissecting the New Delhi G20 Summit | P. S. Jayaramu

  16 September 2023

  12th September, 2023
  The much talked about G20 summit was over recently. The media, specially the electronic media contributed consciously to the hype about the summit, some even using phrases like ‘Modiplocy’. From the time India took up the Presidency of the group last year at the Bali summit, the Indian leadership took its job seriously. It is a record of sorts that over 200 meetings on a diverse range of issues and fields took place in different parts of the country, before the sherpas (…)

• G20 failure to give any commitment on abolition of nuclear weapons is disappointing - Statement from IDPD

  16 September 2023

  Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD)
  Date: 11.09.2023
  PRESS RELEASE
  The Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) has noted with concern that the G20 declaration has not given any commitment on the abolition of nuclear weapons. It has mentioned much about the on-going war between Russia and Ukraine; the threat of use of nuclear weapons in this situation is real and grave. In the point 8 of the declaration on page 2 concern has been expressed over the consequences of (…)

• Modi’s used G20 summit for self projection and the guests faked smiles | Arun Srivastava

  16 September 2023

  by Arun Srivastava
  Like India Shining, the marketing slogan that was put into the public domain to invoke the overall feeling of economic optimism in India in 2004 which failed to ensure the victory of the BJP government of Atal Behari Vajpayee, the new slogan of “Creating India” coined by none else but by Narendra Modi is unlikely to catch the imagination of the common people and boost his electoral prospect.
  Creating India is born out of compulsions of reaching the gains of Modi to the (…)

• A Tale of Two Prime Ministerial Candidates | Gopal Krishna

  16 September 2023

  Lessons not learnt from failure to craft an ideological coalition in 2014 and 2019
  "Humans are more often bribed by their loyalties and ambitions than by money" —Justice Robert H Jackson in the United States versus Wunderlich
  The insights from South America inform us that there are at least two kinds of Opposition voices — one is carnivorous and the other is herbivorous. The insights from South Asia suggest that ruling parties too can be classified into these two categories. History (…)

• NDA Vs INDIA | Thirunahari Seshaiah

  16 September 2023

  Who has the upper hand in the Lok Sabha elections?
  The 18th Lok Sabha elections in the month of April 2024 are going to heat up the country politics right in the scorching season. The upcoming Lok Sabha elections are set to assume political importance as the newly-formed INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) prepares political strategies to prevent Modi from achieving a hat-trick of victories as he seeks public judgment on his decade-long rule. Who are the (…)