Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Ramakrishna, the Quintessential Hindu

  2 December 2018, by Ashok Celly

  Ramakrishna was a quintessential Hindu. He believed in and lived by the Vedantic credo that God lives in all human beings—men and women, Brahmins and Shudras, princes and beggars. Nothing demonstrates his faith better than his concern for and love of the pariah and the ‘fallen’ women—the most despised segments of the Hindu society.
  His favourite disciple, Swami Vivekananda, gives a very moving account of Ramakrishna performing menial services in the house of a pariah. The pariah would not (…)

• Twelfth Dr Asghar Ali Engineer Memorial Lecture: A Report

  2 December 2018

  “Muslims of India are in a position today that is worst than in 1857 or 1947,” lamented A.G Noorani, leading constitutional expert and prominent author. He was delivering the 12th Dr Asghar Ali Engineer Memorial Lecture, titled “Muslims of India: Past and Present”, organised by the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) at the Constitution Club in Delhi on November 23, 2018. The lecture was chaired by Hamid Ansari, former Vice-President of India. It was attended by over 200 (…)

• Bharatiya Janata Party or Bharatiya Jumla Party!

  2 December 2018, by Subhash Gatade

  BOOK REVIEW
  Truth in Fetters: Broken Promises and Shattered Unity by Ram Puniyani; Media House, Delhi; 2018; Price: Rs 250.
  Change is in the air!
  A retired academic, who had his last assignment as the Vice-Chancellor of a leading university, said something to me the other day, while we were discussing the contemporary political scenario. Frankly admitting that he had supported Modi’s candidature for the PM’s post and had even discreetly campaigned for him in the 2014 elections, he (…)

• 

  The Real News: Farmers on the Move

  25 November 2018, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  Several developments of late are in the focus of national attention. These include the public face-off between the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, and the Union Government that has somehow been reversed for the present with both sides pulling back from the brink at the RBI board meeting last Monday (November 19) and agreeing to work out solutions to the contentious issues thereby aiding both the financial markets and investors; the events in and around the (…)

• The Great Lankan Betrayal

  25 November 2018, by Apratim Mukarji

  In the midst of the unique political turmoil in Sri Lanka since October 26 one important voice was missing. Both Sri Lankans and foreigners wondered why former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was silent.
  Their curiosity was mitigated on November 15 when Kumaratunga spoke up for the first time since the October 26 morning “coup” by President Maithripala Sirisena when he summarily sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and swore in the immediate past President Mahinda (…)

• Ayodhya Phobia: A Hype?

  25 November 2018

  by Nilofar Suhrawardy
  October 29, 2018 has passed off and the fear that prevailed earlier regarding communal tension over the Ayodhya issue has, at least for the time being, subsided. Prospects of the Apex Court taking a decisive stand on the Ayodhya dispute on October 29 had indeed raised concern about it leading to communal tension. Paradoxically, little attention was paid to the fact that this is 2018 and not 1992. It was feared (and to a degree still is) about India heading towards (…)

• Enigma of Alienated Youth in Kashmir

  25 November 2018

  by M.M. Khajooria
  Alienation of the youth of Kashmir from India is the hot topic today. Governor Malik has spoken, so have politicians cutting across the political divide. There appears to be a broad consensus on the fact of youth alienation. The perception about its causation is wide-ranging, confused and generally motivated. Pakistan pedalled the perception that the Kashmiri Muslims were being oppressed by Hindu India. The Muslim youth picked up the gauntlet and are fighting the war of (…)

• Deepavali 2018

  25 November 2018, by Badri Raina

  This year’s Deepavali was chequered, Except you know where— Along the banks of a sacred river.
  Whether the god descended or not Must be a matter of debate. Gods may be gods, but they have noses too; He may have found the pollution Too rich for his pulmonary flow. And gods do not like as much noise As their sponsoring humans do.
  However muffled the crackers This November, it is to be doubted That the world here will end With a whimper rather than a bang. Eliot’s melancholy had a muted (…)

• National Academic Event Cancelled

  25 November 2018, by S G Vombatkere

  The 42nd Indian Social Science Congress (ISSC) was scheduled to be held in association with the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) between December 15-19, 2018, at Varanasi, with the focal theme of “Human Future in the Digital Era”. With the experience of 41 earlier events, it was planned with considerable advance spadework of organising programmes, sessions, etc., and inviting papers for its various sessions across multiple academic disciplines, involving several Indian universities. The (…)

• LIC Making Unwarranted Investments: Policy-holders’ Money at risk

  25 November 2018

  by N. Sundaramurthy
  LIC — IDBI Deal
  The respective boards of the LIC and IDBI bank have approved the transfer of 51 per cent of the ailing bank’s shares to the LIC. Not lagging behind, the Insurance Regulator—IRDAI—has approved the deal. According to the IRDAI Act, the LIC cannot hold more than 15 per cent stake in a company. A primary question arises: how could the IRDAI breach its own rules? As on June 30, 2017, the LIC held 18.91 per cent stake in the Corporation Bank. (In the year (…)