Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  Video: The Rank and File | Ken Loach (1971)

  28 August 2020

  The Rank and File is a 1971 filmed television play written by Jim Allen and directed by Kenneth Loach. It was shown on 20 May 1971 on BBC 1 as part of the Play for Today series

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  [rouge]Table of Contents Mainstream - Lockdown Edition no.22 | Aug 22, 2020[/rouge]

  21 August 2020

  Table of Contents - Mainstream, VOL LVIII No 36, New Delhi, August 22, 2020 Letter to the Readers - Mainstream, August 22, 2020 | The Editor Congress, Hindutva and Indian Nationalism | Barun Das Gupta Disregarding Ravi Chopra’s Recommendations on the Chardham Project Will Destroy the Fragile Ecology of the Himalayan Region | Surabhi Agarwal, Lubna Sarwath and Sandeep Pandey Racism: An Entrenched System | Suranjita Ray Dalit Politics Needs a New Radical Direction | S. (…)

• Letter to the Readers No 22 - Mainstream, August 22, 2020

  21 August 2020

  Over the past many years sections of society in India have been campaigning for the repeal of the sedition, defamation and contempt laws which are part of a colonial legacy when dissent was criminalised. Prominent figures of India’s freedom movement including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were repeatedly jailed under these laws. A day before India’s 73rd anniversary of Independence, the Indian Supreme Court passed an order charging the prominent lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, as guilty of (…)

• Congress, Hindutva and Indian Nationalism | Barun Das Gupta

  21 August 2020, by Barun Das Gupta

  August was an important month for India in the twentieth century. It was on August 9, 1942, that the Congress passed the momentous Quit India resolution. It was on August 15, 1947, that India attained independence. And again it was on August 16, 1946, that the Muslim League started the Great Calcutta Killing that culminated a year later in the partition of India. We blame the Muslim League and its leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, for unleashing communal violence and for the partition of India. (…)

• Disregarding Ravi Chopra’s Recommendations on the Chardham Project Will Destroy the Already Fragile and Threatened Ecology of the Himalayan Region | Surabhi Agarwal, Lubna Sarwath and Sandeep Pandey

  21 August 2020

  The Himalayas are of tremendous ecological, cultural and religious significance for the people of India. Yet, for the past several decades the region’s abundant natural resources are being exploited and its ecosystems destroyed in the name of development. Now, the ambitious 900-kilometre Chardham Highways project, work on which began in 2018, seems set to propel the Himalayas towards unprecedented environmental disaster.

• Racism: An Entrenched System | Suranjita Ray

  21 August 2020

  by Suranjita Ray
  The death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, in Minneapolis on 25 May 2020 spurred the #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) movement back into action. The video clip of a white police man crushing the neck of a black man under his knees and choking him till he breathed his last, shocked the world. Social media was flooded with voices against police brutality, violence and barbarism inflicted on black communities by the state and its vigilantes. In solidarity with the (…)

• Dalit Politics needs a New Radical Direction | S. R. Darapuri

  21 August 2020

  by S. R. Darapuri
  Till now Dalit politics / Dalit movement has been limited to saving reservation in government jobs only and Dalit leaders have been considering gaining power as the victory of Dalit politics. Their goal has been very narrow. It is well known that even if a Dalit becomes Prime Minister in today’s capitalist system, Dalits cannot be saved. In such a situation, the benefit will be only for those Dalit leaders who will get power and their number will be limited to a few (…)

• In my own voice: Azaadi | Sagari Chabra

  21 August 2020, by Sagari Chhabra

  It is the eve of Independence day, 14th August and as I write this the faces of the freedom fighters I have met and recorded over the years, flash before me.
  Sushila Nayar was deep into meditation when I met her at her home. I waited and after what seemed a long time she opened her eyes and gave me an exquisite smile. She was soft-spoken and gentle but her memory was sharp. She recalled being jailed with Gandhi and Kasturba inside the Agha Khan Palace detention camp, shortly after the Quit (…)

• The Congress is Modi’s Big Advantage

  21 August 2020, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Narendra Modi of course has gifts of leadership that put him above his challengers. But even his admirers will agree that the weaknesses of the Congress are a big factor behind his success. Consider how the Congress reacted to his victory in 2014. Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president, but the Congress was too confused to get out of its dynastic fixation. It refused to accept his resignation. How did the confusion end? By choosing Sonia Gandhi as interim (…)

• Abrogation Of Article 370 Came at a High Cost | Zulafqar Ahmed

  21 August 2020

  On August 5 last year, when Narendra Modi led Bhartiya Janta party (BJP) government stripped off special status of the erstwhile State of J and K. It was done on the pretext of development, good governance, and peace. It was argued that abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A will open the floodgates for development and prosperity. The former State was bifurcated into two federally administrated Union Territories. Nearly all mainstream leaders and dissenters were arrested after the revocation of (…)