Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• India-China Economic and Political Relations in Changing Global Scenario | Suadat Hussain Wani

  27 February 2021

  by Suadat Hussain Wani*
  Political Relationship:
  India was among the first few countries (first non-communist in Asia) to recognize China in 1950. In early times, there was much enthusiasm about bilateral cooperation and in 1954, panchsheel (five principles of peaceful coexistence) was signed. During this period of cooperation, Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai slogan was popular. However, inspite of enthusiasm to increase cooperation in many fields, border dispute emerged as main issue in early (…)

• Dialectical Materialism: The People’s Philosophy | Abraham Joseph

  27 February 2021

  by Abraham Joseph *
  What is dialectical materialism? Considerable scepticism and doubts have been raised over the years regarding the meaning and relevance of dialectical materialism. In fact, the continuous assault on dialectical materialism has been an ongoing project of a class society unable to explain the contradictions of capitalism and the progressive development of human history. No socially conscious individual can ever deny the relevance of dialectical materialism, a philosophy (…)

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  Tribute to John Keats | Jayaraj Vellur

  27 February 2021, by Jayaraj Vellur

• Crazy is Dead, Long Live Crazy | Ranbir Singh

  27 February 2021, by Ranbir Singh

  Crazy had been gifted to my daughter by the wife of an Army Officer in 2010 when she went to Ranikhet (Uttrakhand) to do some interior designing work at her cottage. She was a seven-day old female pup, a cross breed between a Boxer father and Cocker Spaniel mother. One could guess from her face that she was a Boxer and her hair made Crazy resemble a Cocker Spaniel. My daughter got her tail cut off for reasons best known to her.
  Be that as it may, she loved Crazy more than her parents. To (…)

• Loneliness etc | Humra Quraishi

  27 February 2021, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  24 February 2021
  Humra Quraishi
  Japan has appointed a Minister of Loneliness. As news reports state, this minister’s focus would be to combat loneliness leading to rising suicides. And if I’m not mistaken almost three years back, in 2018, UK had also appointed a Minister of Loneliness to try reach out to all those battling loneliness. Don’t know whether any lessening of the lonely, but it sure does indicate that loneliness is one of those urgent concerns of the governments of (…)

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  Covid-19 Pandemic Drove the Indian Economy on the Brink | Dipak Prakash

  27 February 2021

  Book Review by Dipak Prakash *
  Indian economy’s greatest crisis: Impact of the Coronavirus and the road ahead by Arun Kumar Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 264 pages - Dec 31, 2020
  The author Prof. Arun Kumar (well known for his magnum opus Black Economy in India) has attempted to explain how the widow’s cruse is likely to go empty. He succinctly explained why the insane and ill-conceived policy of the government be held responsible, and more so the Modinomics. Voodoo (…)

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  A RAW officer’s ordeal in Pakistan & Beyond | M.R. Narayan Swamy

  27 February 2021

  by M.R. Narayan Swamy
  Terror in Islamabad by Amar Bhushan HarperCollins Publishers India; Pages: 171; Price: Rs 250
  This is a work of fiction only in name. This is an outstanding even if bone-chilling tribute to an Indian intelligence officer who for three long years fooled Pakistan’s ISI as he ran a network spread all over that country. Unable to digest their failure, ISI bullies abducted and brutally tortured him just before he was to return to India for good. Miraculously, the man (…)

• Social media should be free of commercial income | Mizanur Rahman

  27 February 2021

  by Mizanur Rahman *
  No matter how controversial the political climate in the United States may be, people have never seen a few tech executives shut down a president’s social media access. The decision must be formally approved by the Vice President and Congress prior to taking action. Someone might argue that these media groups are privately owned and can do whatever they want according to the rules of their platform. In my opinion, they cannot, because every company has social (…)

• Funeral Rites | Sophie Pinkham

  27 February 2021

  16 December 2020
  At first you might miss Stalin in the sea of white flowers and crimson satin; then you spot his waxy dead man’s face, the black moustache that Mandelstam famously, fatally compared to a cockroach. The cadaver turns the heads of a torrent of mourners. Some are in tears, some look anxious or horrified, some wear an expression of awkward indifference, some might be suppressing a smile. There is never any question about what they’re looking at, even when the body is out of (…)

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  Video: Are The New Digital Regulations Unconstitutional? Lawyer Menaka Guruswamy explains to Faye D’Souza | Feb 26

  27 February 2021

  India: Minister for Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad unveiled new policies for the regulation of social media and over-the-top (OTT) platforms. A Faye D’Souza investigates the topic with Menaka Guruswamy (Feb 26, 2021)