Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• What is Plaguing the Catholic Church in Kerala? Is it ‘Jihad’ or something else? | Jos Chathukulam and Manasi Joseph

  17 September 2021

  by Jos Chathukulam and Manasi Joseph *
  Abstract
  While the ‘narcotic jihad’ and ‘love jihad’ appears to be creating more furore at the moment, there are various other factors that are plaguing the Church. This article briefly attempts to analyse the major issues and problems that are haunting the Catholic Church in Kerala. __0__
  Introduction
  Though Kerala is in the midst of battling Covid 19 and Nipah, it is the controversy over ‘Narcotic Jihad’ that is creating ripples in the (…)

• Bishops, Pawns and Politics: Indian Church loses friends and makes new enemies | John Dayal

  17 September 2021, by John Dayal

  No boat on a choppy Sea of Galilee would have been tossed as violently as the Church in India finds itself shaken today, trying to negotiate its way between competitive political space with Muslims and Hindus in distant Kerala, rampant persecution by non-state actors in the north and central states, its resources constricted by increasingly vindictive state policies, and its institutions, its social face for two centuries, staring at an uncertain future in many regions.
  This is perhaps a (…)

• India-Pakistan Hatred is a Mindset Problem | M R Narayan Swamy

  17 September 2021, by M R Narayan Swamy

  I was cursing my luck after encountering young Chinese women tellers at a Hong Kong bank who could neither understand nor speak English. I wanted to convert 900 HK dollars into Indian currency before flying back to Delhi. Just then I saw a South Asian man, in the bank’s blue guard uniform, flash a smile and ask: “Koi problem?” (Is there a problem?)
  I heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, I could relate the issue to someone. After hearing me, the man took my HK dollars, went in and, within (…)

• Nature key to Human Well-Being and Prosperity | K N Ninan

  17 September 2021

  by K N Ninan *
  With most countries failing to achieve the 20 Aichi Biodiversity targets as stated in the UN’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, attention is focussed on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be unveiled at the COP 15 meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity scheduled to be held in Kunming, China during October 11-15, 2021.
  A reality check on the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services depicts a grim picture. According to (…)

• Deconstructing ‘Development’ | Arup Kumar Sen

  17 September 2021, by Arup Kumar Sen

  The term ‘Development’ is a catchword in the neo-liberal paradigm of governance. Multiple forms of violence have been inflicted on the people, particularly those belonging to the subaltern social classes/groups, in the name of ‘Development’. In the early 1990s, a book titled The Development Dictionary: A guide to Knowledge as Power was published under the editorship of Wolfgang Sachs. Very recently, a new book bearing the title Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary has been published (…)

• Biased Agricultural Price Policy Causing Lop sided Production | S S Sangwan

  17 September 2021

  by S S Sangwan
  Since 26 November 2020, thousands of farmers are protesting at the boarders of Delhi State for repealing the three farm laws of 2020. An attempt is made here to link these laws with the issues thrown up by the Agricultural Price Policy (APP). The AAP is implemented through procurement of wheat & rice at MSP by Food Corporation of India (FCI) and pulses & oilseeds by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) under a Price Support (…)

• Minimum Support Price for Agriculture in India: Policy Implications | Pavittarbir Singh Saggu

  17 September 2021

  by Pavittarbir Singh Saggu *
  Abstract
  The influence of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) on agricultural technology adoption and boosting output and buffer stocks of cereals, pulses, and oilseeds in India is discussed in this paper. The results imply that food policy should strike a compromise between the interests of farmers in increasing their profits and consumers in ensuring nutrition security within a sustainable budget.
  Keywords: Food Grain, Agricultural Policy, Procurement (…)

• Jallianwala Bagh: Erasing the Spirit of Sacrifice | Prem Singh

  17 September 2021, by Prem Singh

  The beautification/renovation of Jallianwala Bagh Memorial done by the central government through a Gujarat-based private company has come under criticism. It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister on 28th August. The details of observations made and objections raised by a range of people – scholars, common citizens, peoples’ representatives - from India and abroad have come in the press. Simultaneously the details of the changes made to the massacre site have also come in the public domain. (…)

• Poor and common People of the country look towards the CJI with the high hopes of their liberation from state repression | Arun Srivastava

  17 September 2021

  by Arun Srivastava
  The Indian judicial system is horizontally split in two hemisphere having divergent dimension and dynamics. While the lower judiciary has not succeeded in disconnecting itself from the colonial practices and mode of functioning, the higher judiciary is finding it tough to over throw the drag of the modern political institution and system and assert its own independent status and rights.
  It is bound to happen as in both the cases the presiding officers are unable to (…)

• Virendranath Chattopadhyaya - Indian Revolutionary Abroad: Unknown Warrior of Freedom Movement | B P Mathur

  17 September 2021, by B P Mathur

  The role of Indian revolutionaries, who operated from abroad to fight for country’s freedom, has not been adequately appreciated in the history of our freedom movement. Post-1857 war of Independence, the administration of the country passed from the hands of East India Company to the British Crown, who ruled with iron grip allowing no dissent. To escape the long hand of British rulers a band of patriotic Indians found it expedient to operate from abroad, to secure for their countrymen their (…)