Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Shudras And The Central Universities | Kanch Ilaiah Shepherd

  2 April 2021, by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

  A well-known Dalit scholar Gopal Guru, presently editor of the Economic and Political Weekly, once wrote that “Indian Social Science represents a pernicious divide between theoretical Brahmins and empirical Shudras’ (2002). But Shudras did not get much attention in his, otherwise useful article. He immediately shifted his argument to the question of Dalits. Nowhere he elaborated his understanding of the Shudra question in a historical sense. Maybe this was a conscious forbearance. Since he (…)

• 2021 West Bengal Polls Implications for Bangladesh | Partha S Ghosh

  2 April 2021, by Partha S Ghosh

  March 27th, 2021
  If the BJP seizes power in West Bengal, the political challenge for Sheikh Hasina will multiply manifold
  The paradox is puzzling. Bangladesh is celebrating the Golden Jubilee of its liberation and the centenary of its founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — events that evoke and reinforce the nation’s secular ethos.
  As chief guest for the celebration they have invited India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, probably a natural choice given India’s contribution to the (…)

• Back from the Brink: The Indo-Pak Rapprochement | Padder & Wani

  2 April 2021

  by Dr. Sajad Padder & Prof. Gull Wani *
  Introduction:
  On February 25, 2021 the Director Generals of Military Operations of India and Pakistan announced a joint statement which read: “both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease-firing along the Lone of Control and all other sectors with effect from midnight 24/25 February 2021”. It further reads: “In the interest of achieving mutually beneficial and sustainable peace along the borders, the two (…)

• 

  Peace Activists Call for Continued Dialogue Between India Pakistan

  2 April 2021

  Press statement, March 28, 2021:
  India and Pakistan peace activists across time zones came together for a virtual brainstorming session on March 28, inspired by the work of giants like Dr Mubashir Hasan, Asma Jahangir, Kuldip Nayar and Nikhil Chakravartty. On the agenda was the way forward for the movement, how to invigorate it by involving more allies, younger people and expatriates.
  The meeting coincidentally capitalised on a rare moment in recent years where there has been a (…)

• 

  Several Thousand Sign the Appeal for Bail to 84-year Old Stan Swamy - See text of appeal

  2 April 2021

  30 March 2021
  Appeal for Immediate Bail to 84-year Old Stan Swamy
  We, the undersigned, are shocked by the rejection of a bail application filed by Stan Swamy in the Bhima Koregaon case by the special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court on 22 March 2021. He was arrested on 8 October 2020 and continues to languish in jail.
  Eighty-four-year old Stan Swamy is a Parkinson’s disease patient with severe tremors in both hands. He has trouble drinking from a glass, taking bath and washing (…)

• Message from Kevadia: new trends in national security culture? | Bhartendu Kumar Singh

  2 April 2021

  by Bhartendu Kumar Singh *
  India’s national security discourse, by and large, is monopolised by Delhi-based intellectuals and think-tanks. However, if the Commanders’ Conference of the armed forces being held in different parts of last few years (including the recent one held at Kevadia in Gujarat) is any indication, the new public policy imperative seems to reduce Delhi’s influence and proliferate national security culture and consciousness across the country’s geographical spectrum. The (…)

• Has Hindi Cinema’s That Promoted Social Change Dried Up? | Bharat Dogra

  2 April 2021, by Bharat Dogra

  While surely the main concerns of the Hindi film industry have always related to entertainment as business, nevertheless there has been generally a significant space also for taking up and promoting issues of high social concern.
  Such a space may have been more in the early post-independence years and may have decreased with the passage of time, but surely such concerns have always been there. However in more recent times, there seems to have been a sudden drought of any outstanding films (…)

• Changing contours of Care giving for the Elderly in India | Minakshi Biswas

  2 April 2021

  by Minakshi Biswas*
  The past few decades have witnessed a major shift with respect to care giving in general and for the elderly in particular. The onus of care giving previously rested upon the family. Within the family, the women being relegated to the private sphere were expected to perform the role of caregivers. Along with many other tasks to do with domestic chores, like performing household duties, nurturing and rearing children, they also played the role of caregivers for the (…)

• Policy For Elder People On COVID 19 Pandemic | Sahay & Sethy

  2 April 2021

  by Dr. Ashok Kumar Sahay and Prabira Sethy *
  Introduction:
  The Covid 19 Pandemic has affected Elderly people a lot. Because they need special attention as well as care in terms of health, love, and affection from the Government, families, and societies.
  Older persons are particularly susceptible to the risk of infection from COVID-19, especially those with chronic health conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
  Older persons are not just (…)

• Myanmar: Top UN officials condemn military’s attacks on peaceful protesters | Excerpt Jt Statement - OHCHR, March 28, 2021

  2 April 2021

  Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
  Myanmar: Top UN officials condemn “systematic” attacks on peaceful protesters, and flag international responsibility to protect the people from atrocity crimes
  Joint Statement by Alice Wairimu Nderitu, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, and Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the situation in Myanmar
  NEW YORK/GENEVA (28 March 2021) – The UN Special Adviser on the (…)