Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Need to restore Harmony and Peace: Manipur, Nuh and Shooting in Train | Ram Puniyani

  12 August 2023, by Ram Puniyani

  The country is witnessing horrific violence in different regions. The Manipur violence, going on for over three months as it has shamed the nation for the treatment meted out to the three young girls, it has led to the death of over one hundred innocent lives, (more Kuki) and also displacement of close to a lakh of people, more from Kuki-Naga-Zo communities, (Adivasis who are Christians in the main). The ethno-religious nature of the violence is writ large on the whole phenomenon. The (…)

• Modi’s perfunctory reaction to Manipur indicates a larger game | Faraz Ahmad

  12 August 2023, by Faraz Ahmad

  August 10, 2023 may go down in the history of Indian Parliament and democracy a historic victory for the combined anti-communal, anti-democratic parties led by the Congress rechristened as INDIA, forcing a reluctant and petulant Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come to the House, though at the last minute and speak about the state of border state of Manipur, burning for over three months with communal clashes, under the watchful eyes of a BJP chief minister N.Biren Singh.
  The Prime Minister (…)

• What Went Wrong with The Communist Movement In India - Answers to a Layperson’s Questions | T. Vijayendra

  12 August 2023, by T. Vijayendra

  A lot of ordinary people in India – both women and men have a lot of respect for the communists and communist movement. It is based on their direct knowledge from interactions with the communists in trade union movements and other social and political movements. They are also impressed by the personal integrity of most of the communists. They are prepared to overlook aberrations of some of them.
  They are puzzled as to why the communists had so little success. What went wrong? How did they (…)

• Why is the reality of Prime Minister’s political capital veiled! | Prem Singh

  12 August 2023, by Prem Singh

  The editorial titled ’ Draw the Line’ in ’Indian Express’ (August 2, 2023), the first one to be written in the context of communal violence in Haryana’s Nuh town and killings in the passenger compartment of Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express, is noteworthy. The title of the editorial ’Draw the Line’ reads like a directive and warning. The sub-headline of the editorial says that the ‘Murders on a train and on Haryana streets are unrelated. But both point to a cycle of hate, impunity - (…)

• On 1980 Moradabad Riots | Arup Kumar Sen

  12 August 2023, by Arup Kumar Sen

  Very recently (August 8, 2023), “nearly 40 years after Justice M P Saxena submitted findings on the communal riots that rocked Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh in August 1980, the report was tabled in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly…The violence that began on August 13, 1980, at the Eidgah in Moradabad town, continued in Sambhal, Aligarh, Bareilly, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), and the rural areas of Moradabad until early 1981.” (The Indian Express, August 9, 2023). What are the findings of (…)

• Higher Education Policy for Karnataka: Some Issues for Consideration | P S Jayaramu

  12 August 2023

  by P. S. Jayaramu
  (5th August, 2023)
  The Karnataka government has decided to appoint a Commission to prepare a new education policy for the state to replace the NEP 2020 which was hurriedly implemented by the erstwhile BJP government with an eye on pleasing its masters in Delhi. To be fair to the Congress government, the Party had stated in its 2023 election manifesto that it would abrogate the NEP if it came to power.
  My concern in this article is only about higher education as I was (…)

• New Law Brings Wider Hope for Gig Workers | Bharat Dogra

  12 August 2023, by Bharat Dogra

  In recent years the number of gig workers has increased rapidly in most countries. While the need has been for ensuring better social security and welfare benefits to more workers, the trend has been in the opposite direction due to gig workers accounting for a major share of the increase in the new workforce. In India gig workers already number over 8 million and their number is expected to increase very fast to about 24 million in the year 2030, according to recent estimates. In such a (…)

• Gig-Workers Deserve Rights as Employees: CPI MP Binoy Viswam

  12 August 2023, by Binoy Viswam

  Press-Release 11th August, 2023
  CPI MP Binoy Viswam’s Private Member’s Resolution on gig and platform-based workers is listed for introduction in the Rajya Sabha for the 11th of August 2023, Friday. The resolution is about the insecure conditions of gig and platform-based workers resulting in financial and social anxieties in their everyday lives. The Rajya Sabha MP proposed the formation of a Gig-Workers’ Rights Act and Gig- Workers Welfare Fund to accord to them social security and (…)

• Can An Award Chain the Conscience of an Individual? | Sandeep Pandey

  12 August 2023, by Sandeep Pandey

  A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has recommended making Sahitya Akademi award winners sign an undertaking that they would not return their awards at any stage to protest any political incident. It believes that political issues are outside the ambit of cultural realms and returning an award is disgraceful for the country. There was a voice of dissent which said that India is a democratic country and our Constitution has provided to every citizen the (…)

• Caste is Independent of Religiosity and Inconsistent with Conversion: Examining the Issue of Extending Reservation Post-Conversion | Rajiv Ranjan Prasad

  12 August 2023

  Abstract
  Religious conversion is a personal choice that individuals are entitled to make. In Hindu Society, which is a collection of castes, and each caste being a closed corporation, there is no place for a convert. Caste is inconsistent with conversion. Caste is generally independent of religiosity. However, when it comes to claiming additional quota benefits, it is essential to consider the principles of equity and fairness. Those who have chosen to leave Hinduism and embrace Islam or (…)