Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Lest We Forget

  24 June 2018

  Fortythree years ago on June 26, 1975, the Emergency was proclaimed throughout the country as the ruling leadership bared its fangs nakedly displaying its dictatorial proclivities. We present here write-ups and poems that bring back the nightmare of those dark days when our freedom was sought to be snatched away and our voice throttled. —Editor

• Does it Matter?

  24 June 2018, by Faiz Ahmed Faiz

  My tablet and my pen,My two cherished treasuresAre snatched from me,But does it matter?For I have dipped my fingersIn the blood of my heart;My tongue they sealedBut does it mater? For,I have placed a tongueIn every link of chain That fetters me.
  Faiz Ahmed Faiz

• Opposition Parties joining to defeat BJP lack Alternate Policies

  24 June 2018

  by S.R. Darapuri
  The BJP’s chain of defeat, which started with the Gorakhpur and Phoolpur in Uttar Pradesh by- elections, has extended to defeats in Kairana and Noorpur. It has broken the invincibility myth of Modi and Amit Shah. If the Opposition parties succeed in joining hands to get rid of the unprecedented danger to the basic democratic values, institutions, society, culture and civilisation created during four years of Modi rule, it will definitely be good for the country and (…)

• Pranab Mukherjee at RSS HQ: Images Speak Louder Than Words

  24 June 2018

  by Ram Puniyani
  Dialogue is a core part of the democratic process. The question thus is: can there be a dialogue between two opposing ideologies, the one of Indian nationalism and the other of Hindu nationalism?
  We witnessed a strange spectacle when the former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, a lifelong Congressman, arrived at the Nagpur headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the apex organisation promoting narrow, divisive, exclusive Hindu nationalism.
  The decision of (…)

• Pranabda Makes a Visit but why Now?

  24 June 2018, by Badri Raina

  In current parlance, here is my “takeaway” on Pranab Mukherjee’s so tantalizing visit to the RSS Headquarters in Nagpur:
  First, why was he invited? However Mohanji Bhagwat may have underplayed the occur-rence as a rather routine and innocent one, the invite was clearly loaded with political purpose.
  That India is now run by an RSS-led Bharatiya Janata Party is all very well, but inviting a former President of the Republic to the RSS’ organisational den is quite another matter.
  One (…)

• Union Budget 2018-19: Ambitious, Populist and Unprogressive Budget

  24 June 2018

  by A.V.V.S.K. Rao
  “From birth to death, our lives are affected in countless ways by the activities of government.” —Noble Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz
  Introduction
  The backdrop to the Narendra Modi Govern-ment’s fifth Budget has been a domestic economy confronted with a rather adverse global and domestic environment since 2015-16. The rural economy, particularly the agricultural sector, has been in a state of great turmoil. The Indian rural economy reeled under drought for two (…)

• In Search of a Better World

  24 June 2018, by Arup Kumar Sen

  COMMUNICATION
  All the great thinkers in history were in search of better worlds in their writings and thinking. The Indian Constitution represents our collective wisdom and suggests pathways for a better India. However, the values enshrined and the rights guaranteed in the Constitution are often violated in our everyday life in contemporary India. Our ‘constitutional morality’ should propel us to champion the individual and collective rights of the citizens and respect the plural culture (…)

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  Welcome Move in Korean Peninsula

  18 June 2018, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  How do we assess the Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un summit talks at Singapore? Regardless of what the cynics have said or written—and there are many such cynics beyond those who have articulated their views within the country and beyond—the reality is different. It is reflected in what The Indian Express has editorially underlined: “Constructing Peace: In Singapore, defying odds and cynicism, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un take a welcome step together”. Elaborating on these words, it (…)

• Losses that Cannot be Filled

  18 June 2018

  COMMENTARY
  As we go to press news has just arrived from Srinagar that noted professional journalist Syed Shujaat Bukhari is no more. He was gunned down near his office (he was earlier the correspondent of The Hindu, and subsequently was editing the newspaper Rising Kashmir) in Press Colony in the J & K capital this evening and was declared dead when the body reached the hospital.
  One had first met him in the autumn of 1994 when one visited Kashmir in November that year. Besides (…)

• Would RSS accept Pranabda’s Inclusive Indian Nationalism?

  18 June 2018

  by Ram Puniyani
  Dialogue is the core part of the democratic process. The question that comes up is: can there be dialogue between two opposite ideologies on the Indian horizon, the one of Indian nationalism and the other of Hindu nationalism? We witnessed a strange spectacle when Pranab Mukherjee, a lifelong Congress-man and believer in plural, inclusive Indian nationalism, accepted the invitation from the RSS to speak on the platform of the Sangh, the apex organisation promoting narrow, (…)