Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Taliban originated in Afghanistan, Not Pakistan | Apratim Mukarji

  5 November 2021, by Apratim Mukarji

  For long Afghanistan scholars had supported the theory, promoted by the Taliban themselves and Pakistan, that their particular brand of jihadism was developed in Afghan refugee camps in Baluchistan. New data brought forward by an Indian scholar have demolished it proving conclusively that it was developed in Afghanistan itself by Afghan madrassas.
  Anand Gopal has claimed that at least sixty percent of the Taliban ideology was developed in Afghanistan’s pre-1979 (the year of the Soviet (…)

• Kudos to cricketer Virat Kohli for shooing away hate mongers | Humra Quraishi

  5 November 2021, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  3 November 2021
  First things first. Salaams and salutes to Captain Virat Kohli. He comes across as a true player and also a committed captain. The manner in which he dealt his team’s defeat in the recent World Cup matches and the way he came to the rescue of his team mate Mohammed Shami, speaks volumes of his upbringing and values.
  Sadly, none of the old retired captains and players spoke out. They miss no opportunity grabbing the space on the small screen, throwing (…)

• Religious ultra-conservatism has a field day in Pakistan | James M. Dorsey

  5 November 2021

  by James M. Dorsey
  Oct 30
  Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism is having a field day.
  Barely three months after the Taliban claimed victory in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the second most populous Muslim-majority state, is moving to join Kabul in becoming an outpost of religious intolerance and Muslim supremacy.
  In doing so, Pakistan, alongside Afghanistan, has come down on the side of countries like Turkey and Iran that advocate various forms of political Islam and public adherence to the (…)

• Climate threat over South Asia | Jawed Naqvi

  5 November 2021

  by Jawed Naqvi
  HOW badly are Saarc countries already affected by climate change, and what is the hope the damage could be contained before it becomes an unmitigated disaster? With these paramount questions, there should have been a common strategy, a shared concern representing the eight member states at the Climate Change Conference starting in Glasgow on Sunday. It didn’t happen because the group is largely frozen in time over shortsighted agendas and seasonal military skirmishes between (…)

• Ten Strong Reasons Why Ken-Betwa River Link Project Should Be Withdrawn Immediately | Bharat Dogra

  5 November 2021

  The Ken-Betwa River Link Project (KBRLP) is one of the most disputed river projects of India. Involving two states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, this Rs. 35000 crore (Rs. 3500 billion) project involves the construction of a dam and a 230 km canal, largely (but not entirely) in Bundelkhand region of these two states, to take the water of Ken River to Betwa river. This is the first of the around 30 projects of the larger, and highly contentious, river inter-linking project. Perhaps for (…)

• How climate change is linked to the tragedy of a Bengali-Pakistani fisherman incarcerated in India | Beena Sarwar

  5 November 2021

  by Beena Sarwar
  Amir Hamza’s coffin exchanged at Wagah border, Sept. 14, 2021. Photo: Obtained from source.
  The tragedy of a fisherman who died of Covid-19 while imprisoned in India, far from his family in Karachi, highlights the link between geopolitics and climate change – issues being deliberated at the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow.
  In November 2017, Amir Hamza was among the crew of a Pakistani fishing boat arrested by Indian security forces across the maritime border.
  Fisherfolk (…)

• 

  Letter to the Prime Minister - Concern over decision to restart seven under-construction hydroelectric projects on the Ganga in the Himalayan basin

  5 November 2021

  To
  The Prime Minister,
  On 10/8/21 over 60 citizens of our nation wrote to you expressing utmost concern over the recent decision of the Government of India to restart seven under-construction hydroelectric projects (HEPs) on the Ganga, in the Himalayan basin. The signatories representing a wide spectrum of our public, are prominent scientists, politicians, lawyers, social activists, field experts, villagers and members of reputed environmental organizations, all with a long experience (…)

• Promoting Peace Processes In South Asia: The Challenges | KS Subramanian

  5 November 2021

  by KS Subramanian
  Conflict resolution and peace-building in South Asia requires attention to key political problems such as for example, India’s endemic conflict with Pakistan. Once part of the same country, the two are now divided by the Line Of control (LOC). Similarly, Pakistan is divided from Afghanistan by the Durand Line. These Lines have generated conflicts in the region. There is no love lost between India and Pakistan but the Afghans have friendly relations with Indians!
  We (…)

• 

  Sachchidanand Sinha’s Writing: An Alternative Vision of Socialism | Prem Singh

  5 November 2021, by Prem Singh

  Book Review
  by Prem Singh
  __0__
  Sachchidanand Sinha Rachnavali
  (Collected Works of Sachchidanand Sinha)
  Editor Arvind Mohan
  Volumes: 8
  Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi
  Price: Paperback edition: Rs 4000
  __0__
  The aim of consumerism, which the rulers of these [socialist] economies had promoted, when they aspired to surpass the United States in the standard of life, conceived in terms of capitalist West, forced them to abandon their socialist objective. The consumerist standards of (…)

• 

  Oppenheim on Lee, Pop Empires: Transnational and Diasporic Flows of India and Korea

  5 November 2021

  BOOK REVIEW
  by Robert Oppenheim (University of Texas at Austin)
  __0__
  Pop Empires:
  Transnational and Diasporic Flows of India and Korea
  by S. Heijin Lee, Monika Mehta, Robert Ji-Song Ku, eds.
  Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press
  2019. 360 pp.
  ISBN 978-0-8248-8000-2. __0__
  The popularity and transnational reach of Indian popular media, most centrally Bollywood and regional Indian cinemas, have been subject to a great deal of academic attention. Somewhat more recently, (…)