Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• What is Ailing the Institutions of Higher Learning in Kerala? | Chathukulam and Joseph

  17 December 2021

  by Jos Chathukulam and Manasi Joseph
  Abstract
  Leftist intelligentsia in India have always been portrayed as upholders of academic freedom. The Left academia along with the critics of the current political regime at the Centre have vociferously campaigned against the attempts to scuttle academic freedom in India. However, the recent standoff between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan over political (…)

• Decoding the 2021 Karnataka Legislative Council election results | P S Jayaramu

  17 December 2021, by P S Jayaramu

  by P. S. Jayaramu
  Results of the elections to 25 seats of the Karnataka Legislative Council from 20 Local Authorities’ Constituencies were announced on 14th December 2021. The BJP and Congress Party had contested from 20 constituencies each and the Janata Dal (S) in 6. Both the BJP and Congress have won 11 seats each. The JD(S) has managed victory in only two constituencies and one seat has been grabbed by the independent candidate, Lakhan Jarkiholi. An analysis of the results from the (…)

• Divisive Narratives and Ritual Ridden Event for Launching Kashi Corridor Affirm Politics Rooted in Theocracy and not Secularism | S N Sahu

  17 December 2021, by S N Sahu

  The nation witnessed Prime Minister Modi launching in an orchestrated manner on 13th December 2021 the multi million Kashi Corridor project linking banks of Ganga with the shrine of Lord Shiva and providing relatively open space around the place of worship. The high octane publicity, normally avoided by spiritual seekers and pilgrims to the shrine of Kashi, remained central to Modi’s visit to temple of Kashi Viswanath. The demonstrative performance of rituals by him in full glare of the (…)

• Afghanistan in the historic context: From Saur Revolution and its Immediate Aftermath | Sumit Chakravartty

  17 December 2021, by Sumit Chakravartty

  Now that the Taliban have established their sway over the whole of Afghanistan after capturing the capital, Kabul, I am reminded of the days of 1979 and 1980 when the country was in a different set-up under the impact of the Saur (April) revolution that saw the end of the Zahir Shah and the Daud dynasties and the ushering in of the rule of People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). My first visit to Kabul was in August 1979 when an international peace conference was held in defence of (…)

• Is The RSS Stronger or Weaker After 100 Years? | Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

  17 December 2021, by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

  There is an interesting discussion taking place in a section of the media that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 100 years existence will be celebrated in 2025 like the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its 100 years existence on this planet.No doubt the RSS is also in power at Delhi and in many states, if not exactly like the CPC. The nation knows though a proxy political network, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is said to be in power the actual power operator in India is the RSS. This (…)

• Silent Over Attacks on Christians, While Marketing Sabka Saath | Humra Quraishi

  17 December 2021, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  15 December 2021 Christmas is just about a week away but there seems no harnessing of the violent attacks on the Christian community. And not a word of genuine apology from the State functionaries. An immense tragedy for not just the Christian community but for all of us.
  There is growing concern about the very notion of our collective togetherness —Will it remain only in the textbooks or along the fairy tale strain? Will it be possible (ethically, that is) for any of the (…)

• Bangladesh 1971: Two Million Lives That Could Have Been Saved, but Were Not | Bharat Dogra

  17 December 2021, by Bharat Dogra

  How Nixon and Kissinger failed to respond to urgent need for course-correction from their own senior diplomats
  This year events relating to the liberation of Bangladesh have been recalled time and again as Bangladesh has completed 50 years as a nation. On March 26 Bangladesh celebrated its 50th freedom day as the first announcement of its freedom was made on this date in 1971. However this was followed by one of the worst crackdowns of post war period. Effective freedom came when the (…)

• Letter To Kanhaiya Kumar | Murzban Jal

  17 December 2021

  by Murzban Jal
  The time is out of joint, O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right. William Shakespeare, Hamlet
  Dear Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar
  In normal times one could greet you as “comrade Kanhaiya Kumar” for this is what many people thought you to be when you captured the imagination of the nation a few years back when the slogans of “Jai Bhim, Lal Salaam” along with the cry of freedom resonated. You then (at least in popular imagination) stood for resistance against not only (…)

• Reading the World of Commerce | Arup Kumar Sen

  17 December 2021, by Arup Kumar Sen

  In his seminal book, On Ethics and Economics (Blackwell Publishing, 1987), Amartya Sen argued: “It is, in fact, arguable that economics has had two rather different origins, both related to politics, but relatedin rather different ways, concerned respectively with ‘ethics’, on the one hand, and with what may be called ‘engineering’, on the other”. Regarding the ‘engineering’ approach, Sen observed: “This approach is characterized by being concerned with primarily logistic issues rather than (…)

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  Repeal UAPA, Sedition Law & AFSPA | Statement adopted by a meeting of Human rights groups, Delhi 11, Dec 2021

  17 December 2021

  Our country has a long history of gross abuse of power and deprivation of human rights in the context of the laws relating to sedition, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. In order to provide legal sanctity to their repressive measures, successive governments in India have armed themselves with various so called ‘anti- terrorism’ laws, each being more draconian than the previous one.
  These laws also stand out for the remarkable (…)