Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  Video: The Disappearing Present - Reflections on Ideology by Dilip Simeon

  29 January 2021

  Ours is an age of ideology. Ideology is a means of submerging everyday existence into a dream-like waiting room. Ideologically-sustained life is a relentless deferral of presence on behalf of a hoped-for glorious future. Our gaze is prompted backward and forward, the future being the domain wherein the past may be rectified. If the criterion of truth is not in agreement with reality, but in agreement with the spirit of a nation, class or caste, then apparently, truth has been replaced by perspective; theory by interpretation; presence by transience; and actuality by possibility. We are left with neither knowledge nor wisdom, but recipes for endless conflict and linguistic chaos. Such are the dimensions of contemporary nihilism.

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  Audio: Rationalism, atheism and Hinduism in dravidian India, c.1920-90 by Dr David Washbrook (Majewski Lecture Nov 2005)

  29 January 2021

  lecture by Dr. David Washbrook (St Antony’s College, University of Oxford) on 16 Nov 2005.

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  Table of Contents - Mainstream, Jan 23, 2021

  22 January 2021

  * Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Jan 23, 2021 - The Editors
  * The Wonder That’s The Indian Farmer | TJS George
  * Communalising Muslim politics is dangerous for Bengal’s social order | Arun Srivastav
  * Transition From Divider-In-Chief To Sagacious Unifier | Vijay Kumar

• Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Jan 23, 2021

  22 January 2021

  Letter to the Readers of Mainstream - Jan 23, 2021
  Joe Biden the 46th president of America took his oath of office at a solemn ceremony on the Capitol Hill the seat of Government in Washington D.C. on January 20, 2021. As is the custom, the ceremony was attended by elected officials from both major parties and by dignitaries, but the most notable absence was that former of President Donald Trump, who broke convention and chose not to be present at his successor’s inauguration. After four (…)

• The Wonder That’s The Indian Farmer | TJS George

  22 January 2021, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  The farmers’ agitation has become something of an Indian phenomenon. There is no dominant leader or party at the helm. Yet they carry on with sustained fervour, clear about who they are and what they deserve. They are true sons of toil working on tons of soil.
  (A New York newspaper reported a mining disaster in 1941 with the heading “Sons of toil under tons of soil.” Around the same time Bombay’s Free Press Journal used the same headline, written by journalist (…)

• Communalising Muslim politics is dangerous for Bengal’s social order | Arun Srivastav

  22 January 2021

  by Arun Srivastava
  Brushing aside the suggestions of left and democratic parties, even the proposition of the CPI(ML) liberation, the CPI(M), big brother of the Indian Commuist parties has decided to enter into alliance with the Congress with the sole purpose of ensuring the defeat of Mamata Banerjee. The reason for opposing Mamata is debateable and cannot be justified from the Marxist point of view. It is the whim of some top state leaders of the party that prompted it to oppose (…)

• Transition From Divider-In-Chief To Sagacious Unifier | Vijay Kumar

  22 January 2021, by Vijay Kumar

  “The Democracy has prevailed”, common headline, chosen coincidently by “The Guardian” and “The New York Times”, published from the opposite ends of Atlantic is an unmistakable pointer to the immense sense of relief to Democrats and Liberals of the world by Bidden – Harris Inauguration. The administering of oath by the Chief Justice John Roberts to Joseph Bidden as the 46th President of the US, preceded by the administering of oath to Kamala Harris as the 49th Vice President by Senior Judge (…)

• Kamala Harris And India’s Laws Against "Love Jihad" | Rajmohan Gandhi

  22 January 2021

  by Rajmohan Gandhi *
  December 28, 2020
  The unpredictable impact of Trump’s post-defeat temper on Georgia’s January 6 Senate runoffs intrigues me as I wait and watch in Illinois. Also fascinating, and of course noticed by many, is the similarity in the political disputes that India and the U.S. witness.
  Moreover, there is at least partial similarity, also marked by many, in the styles of Modi and Trump, both of whom seem to enjoy the mic, the camera, and theatrics.
  Not all the (…)

• Challenges to Modi Government in 2021 and beyond | P S Jayaramu

  22 January 2021, by P S Jayaramu

  by P. S. Jayaramu
  By all accounts, the year 2020 was a bad year for India and the Modi Government as it faced the twin challenges of the health and economic pandemic. The year that has gone by also led to a heightening of unemployment as a result of the virtual collapse of production in several sectors. The pandemic also disrupted the educational system with the closure of schools and colleges. The year 2020 also resulted in the Chinese armed attack on our soldiers in the Galway Valley, (…)

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  Arrest warrant against senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta - Statement by the Editors Guild of India | Jan 21, 201

  22 January 2021

  Editors Guild of India
  PRESS STATEMENT
  The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the use of intimidatory tactics by powerful corporate houses against journalists to prevent media scrutiny. The case in point is the non-bailable arrest warrant that has been issued against senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, by a court in Gujarat’s Kutch district, for an article he had co-authored against the Adani group in 2017.
  The issue of a non-bailable warrant by a lower court against Mr (…)