Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Relevance of Marxism in Contemporary World

  20 May 2018, by Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy

  Karl Marx was an eminent philosopher, renowned economist, historian, journalist, political ideologue, revolutionary socialist, great intellectual and multilingual expert. Karl Marx obtained a law degree and simultaneously studied Hegelian philosophy. The bicentenary of his birth is being celebrated in a spectacular way all over the world from May 5, 2018 onwards throughout the year.
  Marx was a great scientific thinker, yet there are some pseudo-intellectuals who have distorted Marxism. (…)

• Jinnah’s Importance

  20 May 2018, by Kuldip Nayar

  The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is not just a place of learning. It was in the forefront of a movement for the demand of Pakistan and still leans towards what is considered beneficial to the millat. A photo of Mohammad Ali Jinnah on the wall of Kenney Hall, the most prestigious place in the AMU campus, is no surprise. It was there even before the partition and it continues to be there all these years. But what amazes me is its disappearance on May 1 and reappearance on May 3!
  True, it (…)

• Indian Tradition — as Tagore Realised

  20 May 2018

  Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s 157th birth anniversary fell last week, on May 9, 2018. The following article is being published as a tribute to his memory now that India is under attack from the Hindutvavadis in power.
  by Jayanta Kumar Ghosal
  A few days ago a political leader who claims to be a Hindutva preacher and ardent follower of the Indian tradition declared that there was no need of following Rabindranath Tagore, as he did not know Indian tradition properly. But the question (…)

• Towards an Understanding of Martyrdom in Kashmir

  20 May 2018, by Arup Kumar Sen

  On January 14, 2011, the Supreme Court sought answers from the Union and Andhra Pradesh governments regarding the “encounter” killings of the Maoist leader, Azad, and a journalist, Hemchandra Pandey, in July 2010. The two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court said: “We cannot allow the republic killing its own children.” They added: “The governments will have to answer so many questions.”
  But, Kashmir is a “State of Exception”. The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990, (…)

• Wuhan Meeting: Tryst of Compulsion under the veil of Amicable Summit

  20 May 2018

  by Gouri Sankar Nag
  Backdrop
  Exactly after 242 days since the Doklam imbroglio petered away unexpectedly on and from August 28, 2017, Modi and Xi Jinping met at central China’s Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, for an informal one-on-one meeting. This is for the second time after Modi’s last visit to China in 2015. While Sino-Indian relations practically reached their nadir in mid-2017, sources were ecstatic about the positive derivatives of the Modi-Xi personal equations this time (…)

• Kashmir: Old Political Chimera is Social Again

  20 May 2018

  by Navneet Sharma and Showkat Ahmad Mir
  Don’t see J&K as a conflict state and a political issue, it is a society which has social issues right now. — Haseeb Drabu
  (the) deep sense of victimhood prevalent in the Kashmir Valley. It surely deserves to be addressed with great sensitivity. — Three Interlocutors
  Political settlement will happen only when peace prevails. — Dineshwar Sharma
  Kashmir is no more a place or the word. We have been ‘trained’ to read it as the Kashmir issue. (…)

• RSS Unmasked: Insider’s Account of Sangh’s Activities

  20 May 2018

  BOOK REVIEW
  by T. Navin
  Cellars of the Inferno: Confessions of an RSS Pracharak by Sudheesh Minni; Publisher: Chintha Publications; pages: 122.
  The RSS has been critiqued for long for its divisive and fascist ideology. Its role in spreading hatred, communal violence, killings—arson and loot, blasts has been pointed out by critics. However, the attempt of the RSS to project itself as a cultural and nationalist organisation working for the welfare of the majority community, nation and (…)

• Social Capital and Empowerment of Bahujan Bharat — Role of Agency

  20 May 2018

  by Mahi Pal
  Introduction
  The author is neither a historian nor a scholar of Bahujan which encompasses all forces except the Brahaminical Social Order (BSO). However, as a keen student of social development he has relations with various people of the community and is also associated with different organi-sations of the community. While working in the erstwhile National Commission for SCs and STs for two years, I informed myself about the problems of the marginalised groups. Almost a (…)

• Alcohol and Substance Abuse have an Important Role in Sexual Violence

  20 May 2018, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  At a time of growing concern about the fast rising sexual crimes in India, it is important to draw attention to a neglected factor, that is, increasing alcohol and substance abuse in various forms, which also plays an important role in the rise of sexual crimes. This is evident from several studies in various parts of the world as well as recent news reports of sexual crimes in India.
  The World Report on Violence and Health (WRVH) says that alcohol abuse is also an (…)

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  Karnataka Polls, Kathua Case, Putin Returns

  13 May 2018, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  The campaign for the Karnataka Assembly elections—the polling for which is scheduled to take place on May 12—is drawing to a close and there is as yet no clear winner in sight despite BJP chief Amit Shah’s braggadocio. But what is unmistakable is the fact that the poll speeches of PM Narendra Modi have been exceptionally low in standard and there is much strength in the view of electoral experts, apart from Congress stalwarts, that they don’t recall a PM having sunk to such (…)