Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Feb 11, 2023

  10 February 2023

  Letter to the readers, Mainstream, Feb 11, 2023
  6th February 2023 saw a series of high-intensity earthquakes in Southern Turkey and Northern Syria causing enormous devastation and loss of life — already about 23000 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. A large number of countries have rushed to relief and this is a process that will last long. Observers say the economic costs might be some 10 percent of Turkey’s GDP. Questions are being asked in Turkey over the sheer scale of damage in (…)

• India 75 Years of Republic - Rise of Sectarian Nationalism | Ram Puniyani

  10 February 2023, by Ram Puniyani

  by Ram Puniyani
  Abstract:
  India’s struggle for Independence was an inclusive movement. The underlying values of this mass movement were democracy and secularism. “India: Nation in the making” summed up the transition taking place, the transition which not only included the modern industries, administrations, education, Judicial system along with dalits and women taking to education, modern education. The values inherent in this, one of the greatest mass movements in the World were (…)

• After Modi who? | Faraz Ahmad

  10 February 2023, by Faraz Ahmad

  Much before India’s first prime minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru died at 74 on 27 May, 1964, the common refrain of political analysts was ‘After Nehru Who’ or After Nehru what, presuming that India would face chaos due to political vacuum after Nehru.
  This was discussed more seriously by western commentators, banking on Morarji Desai succeeding Nehru to tailor India’s internal and external policies to the benefit of the United States of America (USA) and its western European satellites. (…)

• Pathan the blockbuster movie fuels jingoism | Jawed Naqvi

  10 February 2023, by Jawed Naqvi

  by Jawed Naqvi
  MOVIE actor Nasiruddin Shah was promoting his book at a function in Delhi when his brother in the front row rattled him with a simple question. Why was it that in his recent movie, the terrorists were all Muslim? Why does this happen in far too many Hindi movies? Shah, himself a Muslim, mumbled something to blame the script. Park the thought and consider Shahrukh Khan’s newly released movie Pathaan, a hugely successful venture moneywise. It’s the story of a Rambo-like Indian (…)

• Dark Clouds Mar Sri Lanka’s Independence Day | M.R. Narayan Swamy

  10 February 2023, by M R Narayan Swamy

  Natural disasters or economic collapse, nothing seems to induce most Sri Lankans into divorcing the dragging ethnic tremors that have contributed to making the once seemingly prosperous island nation virtually impoverished. It is no wonder that the country celebrated the 75th year of its independence from colonial rule amid a crippling political divide and unending uncertainty on how to recover from the serious economic mess Sri Lankans find themselves in, The situation is so grave (…)

• Analyzing the Union Budget 2023-24 to Unravel its Underlying Strategy | Arun Kumar

  10 February 2023, by Arun Kumar

  Introduction
  Any budget is complex consisting of many things of varying importance. Often, people focus on things of their direct interest but miss the wider implications that affect them indirectly and may undo any benefit they may get directly. Thus, it is not only important to look at the trees but also the forest. So, it is important to analyse the Macroeconomic strategy of the budget.
  Further, the budget is based on three things. First, analysis of the current economic situation, (…)

• How Significant Cuts Were Made in Allocations of Crucial Ministries and Departments Last Year | Bharat Dogra

  10 February 2023, by Bharat Dogra

  February 9, 2023
  While most of the budget discussion is understandably concentrated on the financial year ahead of us, it is important to have an understanding also of the previous year’s experiences. An important aspect of this relates to significant cuts made in the allocations of various union ministries and departments of crucial importance during the previous financial year 2022-23, with hardly any public consultation or debate preceding this, or reasons of significant cuts being (…)

• Budget 2023-24: Continuity with Change | Atul Sarma and Shyam Sunder

  10 February 2023, by Atul Sarma

  by Atul Sarma and Shyam Sunder *
  Budget 2023-24 has been presented in the face of multiple challenges: slowing global growth, elevated core inflation and food prices, and looming recession in advanced countries. At another level, this being the last full budget before the general election in 2024 as also approaching election in nine states has its temptation to make it as voter friendly as possible.
  Nevertheless, the budget has restrained itself in offering any direct freebie. It has (…)

• Diving into the Lifeworld of the Refugees | Raj Kumar Thakur

  10 February 2023

  FILM REVIEW
  by Raj Kumar Thakur *
  The movie, Avataar: The Way of Water (2022) is a dive into the lifeworld of the refugees. While in the previous movie, i.e., Avataar (2009), the director James Cameron gave us an overview of how the imperialist zeal of human beings took them to the Navi tribe, this movie shows a revival of their zeal for minerals and a disguised attack on the Navi’s by posing as Navi. In the process, the movie gives us a vivid picture of how refugees are made. If one (…)

• Subjective Morality and the Murder of a Young Women | Chetna Trivedi

  10 February 2023

  by Chetna Trivedi *
  The rising incidents of violence in the modern-day context speak to us in multiple ways. It forces society to question and revisit its discourse on morality. Do we have a moral ground to hold anymore? Or morality has become subjective to the extent that it has been relegated to the individual sphere to decide whether a particular action has an ethically warranted consequence. The barbaric murder of a 26year old woman in Delhi by her live-in partner unveiled in the month (…)