Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Jan 10, 2026

  10 January

  For long years from the 1950s to the early 1980s, India was much respected among countries of the Third World and had a position of near leadership in the non-aligned movements. But those days are long gone, particularly after the collapse of the soviet union. From the early 1990s globalisation integrated India in the world economy in ways unknown in the past and gave it a new prominence in economic terms and as a market. This new emerging India had opened a door, giving it a space on the (…)

• Rewriting tradition on Intervention | Divya Rashmi

  10 January

  When Hugo Chavez was elected as the president in 1998, a movement swept through Venezuela, embarking on a journey that would emerge as the Bolivarian Revolution. The movement sought to reassert sovereignty over political decision-making, natural resources and regional alliances.
  Hugo Chavez named the movement after Simon Bolivar, the 19th-century Venezuelan leader who played a key role in the Latin American war of independence, and whose legacy was invoked as a symbol of sovereignty and (…)

• The Law That Eats Due Process: How UAPA Became India’s Preferred Tool for Preventive Detention | Varna Sri Raman

  10 January, by Varna Sri Raman

  7 Jan, 2026
  A 3.2% conviction rate, years of pre-trial imprisonment, and a legal architecture designed to deny bail

• Death Trap In India

  10 January

  The air quality index (AQI) in Delhi has deteriorated so sharply that a bench of the Supreme Court was forced to advise lawyers to argue their cases virtually rather than come in person to the court. Responding to a submission by a leading lawyer who stated that lawyers were forced to use face masks the court observed that even face masks were ineffective against such high air pollution levels.
  With Delhi air pollution levels breaching the severe plus category in December 2025 recording an (…)

• Sri Lankan Intellectuals express concern over attacks on Prime Minister

  10 January

  07 January 2026
  Stop Sinister Attacks on Prime Minister Amarasuriya
  Our attention is drawn to a vicious campaign of vilification and personalised attacks against Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Sri Lanka

• 

  Satish Kumar Jain: Scholar, Teacher, and Friend - The

  10 January

  Background
  Satish Jain retired as the RBI Professor of Economic Theory from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP) in JNU in 2013. His life has been a hard one, being afflicted with serious illnesses from time to time. He lived alone in the accommodation provided to him by JNU, and during his illnesses, he was helped by his very loyal students, friends, and colleagues, whom he was fortunate to have.
  Retirement meant that he had to move off the campus and relocate to Gurgaon, (…)

• 

  Satish

  10 January, by Arun Kumar

  I remember Satish as a multi-faceted personality. Academia was one aspect of his life, but activism was also an important aspect. He was a lifelong Socialist due to the influence of Shri Paliwal ji in Agra from his school days. He was a Gandhian socialist at heart, believing in frugality in life. He liked gadgets but kept a sparse house with most rooms in the house largely barren.
  He was anti-modernity and, perhaps due to Gandhi

• Finding My Father in Tuesdays with Morrie | Disha

  10 January, by Disha

  I used to read before going to sleep. Half an hour every night, at least. My Kindle would glow softly beside me. It was a rhythm I didn

• Indian Foreign Policy during 2025: Some Reflections | P. S Jayaramu

  10 January, by P S Jayaramu

  December, 29, 2025
  It is customary on the part of foreign policy analysts to come up with their own assessments of Indian foreign policy ( IFP) during the year that has gone by. Here is such an attempt at how the practitioners of foreign policy played their role in 2025. Before getting down to such a task, let me enter a controversial terrain as to who and which institutions play their role in such tasks. Theoretically speaking, it is the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Ministry (…)

• India

  10 January, by Ajay Kumar Mishra

  Abstract
  The post-neoliberal system is characterised by transactional diplomacy, bilateralism, and pragmatism, rather than ideology. Therefore, the term "Cold War" is insufficient for understanding today’s international political economy. Additionally, the emergence of the capitalist mode of production in a post-neoliberal and neorealist paradigm has eliminated ideological divides in the contemporary world. A new aspect of neorealism involves using economic sanctions to influence a (…)