Mainstream Weekly

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• Imphal – A Historic Turning Point ? | S G Vombatkere

  17 June 2023, by S G Vombatkere

  Manipur, with its capital at Imphal, is bordered by Nagaland, Assam, and Mizoram. To its east is part of India’s sensitive international border with Myanmar (formerly Burma), increasingly under covert Chinese influence.
  A turning point A part of the Second World War Burma Campaign, the gruelling and historic Battles of Imphal and Kohima were fought during March to July 1944, at great cost to both Indian and Japanese troops. The outcome was the defeat and withdrawal of Japanese forces, (…)

• ‘Development Delusions’ and The Forthcoming 2023 Panchayat Election In Bengal | Sunil Ray

  17 June 2023

  by Sunil Ray *
  I am writing this piece based on my discussions with several people from different wakes of life while visiting several rural areas of Bengal recently. While it was an opportunity for me to explore the political pulse of the people of rural Bengal on the eve of the forthcoming panchayat election, I intend to reflect here mainly on the ‘development delusions’ being created by the ruling party against the backdrop of firstly on freebies that are being doled out, particularly (…)

• The Indispensability of Brij Bhushan Singh | Faraz Ahmad

  17 June 2023, by Faraz Ahmad

  The cat is finally out of the bag. The months’ long supposed investigations by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi governed Delhi Police has finally come out with a report running into thousands of pages, which has made all the effort to let off the hook Wrestlers’ Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, better known as a toughy of Eastern UP and a six time member of the Lok Sabha on the strength of his muscle power.
  We will soon have a Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) (…)

• The CPM’s 34 year rule in West Bengal (Part 1) | Kobad Ghandy with Ghosh and Hazra

  17 June 2023, by Kobad Ghandy

  by Kobad Ghandy with inputs by Raktim Ghosh and Bonhihotri Hazra
  [bleu marine]This article will be divided into two parts. The first will deal with the CPM led West Bengal government’s approach to globalisation/SEZs, development with focus on Singur and Nandigram, Industry and labour, education and health......and its resultant actions on the people and their movements. The next will deal with the nature of its rule in the state.bleu marine]
  People may ask as to what is the point now in (…)

• The Congress Government in Karnataka and NEP 2020 | P. S. Jayaramu

  17 June 2023

  10th June 2023
  The Congress Party in Karnataka had included in its manifesto that if it comes to power, it would scrap the National Education Policy, (NEP) 2020. After winning the elections with an emphatic victory, the Congress Government has declared that since education is on the Concurrent List, it would take measures to scrap the NEP. In an article in these columns on 28 August 2020, I argued that while the NEP as mixed bag, the stand of the state governments would be crucial for the (…)

• Fadnavis’s “Aurangzeb Ki Aulad” Narrative Violates Constitution, Otherises Minorities, and Endangers Communal Harmony | S N Sahu

  17 June 2023, by S N Sahu

  Possibly no public figure occupying a high office as that of Deputy Chief Minister ever used the derogatory and offensive term “Aurangzeb ki Aulad,” “Progeny of Aurangzeb,” after an alleged social media post containing the image of Aurangzeb was met with a violent response from Hindutva groups against Muslims in Kolhapur in Maharashtra. The concerned Deputy Chief Minister is Devendra Fadnavis of Maharashtra and he used the humiliating term to point fingers at Muslims and spew venom and (…)

• Future of Work and Its Implications on the Labour Market | Kingshuk Sarkar & D N Venkatesh

  17 June 2023

  by Kingshuk Sarkar & D N Venkatesh *
  Introduction
  The future of work is a topic of great interest and speculation, as technological advancements and societal changes continue to shape the way we work. The basic idea of the future of work revolves around the notion that work and employment are undergoing significant transformations due to various factors, including technological advancements, societal changes, and economic shifts. The concept explores how these factors are reshaping (…)

• On the Fundamental Rights of the Sex Workers and Others in India | Pradip Baksi

  17 June 2023

  Pradip Baksi
  BACKGROUND
  It is for about one and a half decades now that our Sex Workers are raising the issues related to their lack of professional, legal and social rights before the members of the Other Sections of our society. Throughout this period, they are trying to get governmental recognition for their legal, civil and social rights, as people who have voluntarily chosen to be engaged as workers in the sector of sexual services. They belong to a profession which is about 10, 000 (…)

• Making Sense of the Crisis - Pakistan Army and the Collapse of the Imran Khan Government | M A Sofi

  17 June 2023

  by M A Sofi *
  The irony of an army with a ‘country attached to it’
  An oft-repeated cliché in the Indian media involving the larger-than-life role of the Pakistan army in politics and dictating the country’s internal and external affairs that would raise eyebrows across the border would read “Pakistan is an army that has a country attached to it”. Recent developments over there seem to add a degree of validity to that cliché. Without intending to play the Devil’s Advocate, it’s important (…)

• The rise and rise of far-right in Germany | M. K. Bhadrakumar

  17 June 2023, by M K Bhadrakumar

  June 13, 2023
  The political class in Germany is stunned by the findings of a YouGov poll[[https://www.euractiv.com/section/all/news/germany-far-right-overtakes-scholzs-spd-in-new-poll] published on Friday that 20 percent of German voters would give their vote to the far-right AfD (Alternative for Germany), making it the second-strongest party behind the centre-right CDU (28%) and ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD (19%). There is no mistaking that it is a political earthquake.
  Given (…)