Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• ’Didi-o-Didi’ Has Reverse Effects Too | TJS George

  14 May 2021, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Home Minister Amit Shah was bent on winning Bengal this time. He not only held rallies there, but also used central government agencies to strengthen his party’s position. Even the Election Commission attracted criticism the way things panned out. In the end of course his efforts came to nothing. Mamata Banerji retained power with two-thirds majority, proving yet again that Bengali hearts were with her, and only with her.
  This time she was also actively helped (…)

• The Left Turn Continues in Kerala | Ratheesh Kaliyadan

  14 May 2021

  by Dr. Ratheesh Kaliyadan Once more, Kerala turns Left with 99 seats out of 140 with 47.47% vote share. “Is there any historical significance of this success?” is the question that comes immediately after the declaration of the left victory in the minds of political science students. It is first time in the history of Kerala election politics, after 1977, the voters turned out its custom of adopting successive governments. According to the latest data from the Election Commission, Left (…)

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  Gouri Amma leaves a void hard to fill | M K Bhadrakumar

  14 May 2021, by M K Bhadrakumar

  by M. K. Bhadrakumar
  May 12, 2021
  The vernacular dailies and the New Indian Express almost forgot the raging Covid-19 pandemic in Kerala. Obituaries to KR Gouri — better known as “Gouri Amma” (Mother) — is their lead story.
  As I waded through the avalanche of obituaries, memories from childhood and youth stealthily began creeping up from the attic of the mind. My father was a fellow comrade of Gouri Amma in the undivided Communist Party. And my mother was a personal friend of hers, (…)

• Inside Story: How Himanta Biswa Sarma Became Assam CM | Barun Das Gupta

  14 May 2021, by Barun Das Gupta

  The unanimous election of Himanta Biswa Sarma as the new Chief Minister of Assam had all the elements of a melodrama. First, all the 60 BJP MLAs were called to Delhi and each was asked to write the name of the person whom he wanted to see as chief minister. All sixty legislators named only Himanta. The first part of “Operation Chief Minister” was thus completed in Delhi.
  The next act of the melodrama was played in the big hall of the Assam Assembly in Guwahati which was once the office of (…)

• Governance in the State of Odisha: Look beyond the catchword - A Response to Pralay Kanungo & Sitaram Kumbhar | Radhakanta Barik

  14 May 2021, by Radhakanta Barik

  by Prof Radhakanta Barik *
  [The below article is written in response to a joint paper by Pralay Kanungo & Sitaram Kumbhar, ’Odisha’s Transformation under the Naveen Patnaik Regime’ in Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) - Vol. 56, Issue No. 8, 20 Feb 2021 ]
  Governance is a political cum administrative concept that needs to be located in the context of social and economic processes
  Governance is being misused by many. As if it is a part of public administration and experts who are (…)

• Talking of What Was Taboos / Israeli Atrocities Against the Palestinians | Humra Quraishi

  14 May 2021, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  12 May 2021
  In the Indian families anything connected to death was rarely spoken about and discussed. To talk of the qabristans and shamshan-ghats or crematoriums or cemeteries was greatly discouraged if not a complete no-no. Well, no longer! All seems changed since last year, more so in these recent weeks.
  With hundreds of deaths taking place all around us, with patients dying gasping for oxygen or want of medical care, with dead human forms floating in the rivers or lying (…)

• The Need of Women Centric Employment Policies in India | Sonam Arora

  14 May 2021

  by Sonam Arora
  Women’s empowerment by way of enhancing their participation in education and employment has remained a key area of policy discourse across the globe including G7 countries. The subject has gathered more attention ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Indian economy. It has not only aggravated the gender bias but also put a large number of women at the brink of losing hopes of an economic survival in the post pandemic era. Women accounted for 10.7% of the workforce in (…)

• Failure to Keep Record About Our Past - Looking back at India’s 1857 Revolt Against the British on its 164th anniversary | Shamsul Islam

  14 May 2021, by Shamsul Islam

  Criminal betrayal of the martyrs of India’s First War of Independence 1857 by the Indian rulers.
  Now it is almost 170 years that people of this country; men, women, children belonging to all religions, regions and strata rose in revolt from Kashmir to Madras and Sylhet to the borders of Afghanistan. Today, if Indians have forgotten about this glorious saga of commitment and sacrifices for the liberation of India, can be forgiven in absence of the contemporary narratives. But what (…)

• Satyajit Ray: A human facets of a genius | Tarun Kumar Basu

  14 May 2021

  by Tarun Kumar Basu
  Satyajit Ray birth centenary: A tribute to the cine-maestro
  Legendary motion-film director Satyajit Ray’s birth centenary was observed on May 2, last week. This year is the birth centenary of the auteur. Born into a reputed cultural family , Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) was an artist, film-maker, motion film director, writer, composer, Often touted as a figure that put indian cinema into a new dimension in the universe of cinematography. He was from a family (…)

• Remembering Sheikh Mujib and 50 years of Bangladeshi liberation | Chaturvedi and Raju

  14 May 2021

  by Nandita Chaturvedi and Archishman Raju
  Bangabandhu, Bishwabandhu!
  We find ourselves in the midst of an unprecedented crisis in the world order. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed many of the weaknesses, and the dormant rot in the Western-led world order. Western societies are plagued with unemployment, drug addiction, violence, and depression. The four years of the Trump presidency have brought into question the role of the US as the undisputed leader of the world. Trump made moves (…)