Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Stop the Release of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes

  23 March 2018, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  According to recent media reports, small-scale trials of release of genetically modified mosquitoes were conducted in Maharashtra and it is likely that preparations are now being made for bigger field trials. In this context it is important to point out that there has been worldwide concern about the serious hazards of this technology. Although it is pushed in the name of disease control by powerful interests it may actually lead to a worsening of diseases, as pointed out in (…)

• What Standards? Double Standards!

  23 March 2018, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  During the recent election campaign in the North-East the BJP made promises to send senior citizens of Nagaland on religious trips, all the way to Jerusalem! Blatant wooing of the majority Christian population of Nagaland by setting up a senior citizens’ board which would annually select 50 members through lucky draw for a free trip to the Holy Land of Jerusalem. This tactic of the BJP is another of those double standards in governance! Not to be overlooked is the fact that just (…)

• Tensions in the Gulf

  23 March 2018, by Harish Chandola

  Tiny Qatar of 300,000 people is getting into problems with its neighbors of the Gulf Co-operation Council. It has gone into a frenzy of buying warplanes for its Air Force. In December it purchased from France six Mirage fighters, and earlier six cargo planes and a squadron of propeller-driven trainers, to form half of its Air Force,
  It is the world’s wealthiest country.
  Since June it has signed contracts worth $ 20 billion (over Rs 132 crores) to buy military planes from three countries: (…)

• A Lovely Easterly Blows

  23 March 2018, by Badri Raina

  These are the Ides of March,
  A hint of Spring is in the air;
  An Easterly from Gorakhpur
  Sings “Tyranny’s end is near.”
  A scent of flowers from Phulpur
  Sweetens, spreads the Easterly;
  Araria says “I stand my ground”,
  The Republic gives thanks to vox populi.
  A million utterances assail
  I AM THAT I AM;
  Patchwork cunning comes apart
  As pent-up miseries breach the dam.
  Alas how the human gods forget
  That oppressions have a season;
  Come the time their fearsome frauds (…)

• Breaking Idols, Fearing Ideals: An Analysis of the Rationalist Movement in India

  23 March 2018

  by Divyanshu Patel
  Any opposition not based on rationalism or science or experience will one day or other, reveal the fraud, selfishness, lies and conspiracies”
  Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy
  This article makes an attempt to understand rationalism as a thought in the light of contemporary politics and a series of events such as killing of rationalists like Govind Pansare, D.R. Dabholkar, Gauri Lankesh and most recently vandalising the statue of Periyar in Tamil Nadu. These events have shaken (…)

• Congress Struggles to Articulate on Foreign Policy

  23 March 2018, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The foreign policy resolution adopted at the 84th plenary session of the Congress Party on March 18 at New Delhi makes a revealing document. The Congress has a long tradition dating back to the pre-independence era of elevating itself from its mofussil/parochial roots by adopting an internationalist outlook. The focus of the present document is once again on differentiating the Congress from its existential rival, Bharatiya Janata Party.
  This a brave attempt, because it is not so easy to (…)

• An Avoidable Operation

  23 March 2018, by Kuldip Nayar

  The British Government has rejected a petition by the Sikh community in London to make public all papers relating to ‘Operation Bluestar’. Mrs Margaret Thatcher, the then British Prime Minister, was close to the then Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, and reportedly helped her to plan the Indian military action at the Golden Temple in Amritsar between June 1 and 8, 1984, to oust militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale and his followers from the Harmandir Sahib complex.
  It (…)

• Rival Neighbouring States and Indo-Pak Relations: Geopolitics and Diplomacy

  23 March 2018

  by Binay Kumar Malik and Ashok Kumar Sahay
  1. Introduction
  The South Asian sub-system in the field of international politics has assumed greater importance because of the hostile relationship before the two nuke adversaries, India and Pakistan. The diplomacy of India and Pakistan has been extremely competitive from the very inception. Scholars and think-tanks have already focused much attention on Indo-Pak diplomacy. But, we have yet to throw adequate light on the innovative concept: (…)

• Red Long March of Maharashtra Farmers

  18 March 2018

  EDITORIAL
  It was a remarkable march in many respects, as openly acknowledged in several newspapers. The Hindu described the farmers’ action, originally aimed at gheraoing the Maharashtra Assembly to sensitise the State Government to their problems, as “a model protest”. It editorially pointed out:
  ....many Mumbaikars not only backed the stir but also pitched in to help with food, water, medical aid, and even footwear. While Opposition parties as well as BJP ally Shiv Sena backed the (…)

• India is Paying for Partition

  18 March 2018, by Kuldip Nayar

  There is a grain of truth in Kashmir leader Farooq Abdullah’s statement that Mohammad Ali Jinnah was not responsible for partition. But Farooq is wrong to blame Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel for it. I am witness to that era and this is how I understood the events. Jinnah was an “ambassador” of Hindu-Muslim unity, as Sarojini Naidu, a top Congress leader, put it. He was driven to partition.
  It is clear that the differences between Hindus and Muslims had become so acute by the beginning (…)