Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  Video: Author Amitav Ghosh on the Violence Behind the Climate Crisis

  19 November 2021

  Play
  “A Process of Violence”: Indian Author Amitav Ghosh on How Colonialism Fueled the Climate Crisis by Democracy Now! https://youtu.be/QzsGDZWJU88

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  27 Down (1974) [w/ English subs] | Awtar Krishna Kaul

  19 November 2021

  Play
  27 Down (सत्ताईस डाउन, 1974) by R I S H I https://youtu.be/kBwJPErunzQ

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  Table of Contents, Mainstream, Nov 13, 2021

  13 November 2021

  * Is Vigilantism a form of Terrorism? | S G Vombatkere
  * Reading Political Economy with Michael Perelman | Arup Kumar Sen
  * Recalling an Episode from Lakhimpur Kheri’s Past History of Protest | Sumanta Banerjee
  * Rafale controversy – the mystery deepens | Upal Chakraborty

• Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Nov 13, 2021

  13 November 2021

  Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, November 13, 2021
  The bending of rules and misuse powers by police, enforcement, security agencies, state officials and by ruling politicians are not new but their repeated use is endangering our democracy. Our Government seems not swayed by any criticism local or international in the manner of bringing sweeping national policy measures without consultation, passing of laws without proper parliamentary debate, ‘managing’ of levers of power to protect or (…)

• V for Vigilante, T for Terrorist - Is Vigilantism a form of Terrorism? | S G Vombatkere

  13 November 2021, by S G Vombatkere

  Surveys indicate that instances of vigilante groups taking the law into their own hands for various reasons connected with inter-faith matters, are on the increase. At the same time, terrorism is a subject of daily reportage. Both these matters affect everybody directly or indirectly, and bear discussion.
  ‘V’ for Vigilantism
  A vigilante is “a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal (…)

• The Politics of Inverted Binoculars | TJS George

  13 November 2021, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  "In UP you won’t see a criminal even if you use binoculars." In India you won’t find a criminal making such a claim, but you will find politicians doing it. Hence the amazing assertion made by India’s amazing Home Minister. Are Indians as dumb as he thinks? No one needs binoculars to see how hooligans often rule the roost in UP. This has been the case for quite some time. Who can forget Raja Bhaiya, described by BJP leader Kalyan Singh himself as Kunda Ka Goonda? (…)

• Reading Political Economy with Michael Perelman | Arup Kumar Sen

  13 November 2021, by Arup Kumar Sen

  Domination of the market in our lifeworld is a given fact in neo-liberal times. The proponents of neo-liberalism preach the doctrine of the market as an axiom.
  Michael Perelman, in his seminal book, The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation (Duke University Press, 2000), interrogated the doctrine of the market formulated by the theorists of the Classical Political Economy. He argued: “For more than two centuries, successive (…)

• Recalling a Forgotten Episode from Lakhimpur Kheri’s Past History of Protest | Sumanta Banerjee

  13 November 2021, by Sumanta Banerjee

  Lakhimpur Kheri, situated in the northern Terai region of Uttar Pradesh and bordering Nepal, has all of a sudden caught the attention of national political parties and media due to the violent clashes there on October 3 during the demonstration of farmers agitating against three unpopular farm laws of the Modi government. The clashes resulted in the killing of eight people, including four farmers, a journalist, and three others, who are being claimed by the BJP as their follower. (…)

• Rafale controversy — the mystery deepens | Upal Chakraborty

  13 November 2021, by Upal Chakraborty

  The Rafale controversy has its origin in the decision to purchase 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) by the Indian Air Force (IAF), as announced by the Ministry of Defence on the 28th of August, 2007, through a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the procurement of 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) fighters.
  It was only after 5 years, on the 31st January 2012, that the Ministry of Defence of the then UPA Government announced that Dassault Rafale had won the MMRCA competition to (…)

• Bengal CPI(M) and their Congress dilemma | Arnab Sen Sarma

  13 November 2021

  by Arnab Sen Sarma *
  The Central Committee (CC), the apex decision-making body of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), has recently released its review report of the 2021 assembly elections in Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Assam . The twenty-six-page document, which presents the party’s intramural analysis of its recent electoral performance in these States, is the reverberation of the CC’s deliberations between August 06-08, 2021. Among all these States, the (…)