Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Great Bank Robbery. By All

  12 March 2018, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  The funny thing about the banking fraud that is rocking the country is that no one is accountable for it. The Finance Minister remained silent at first and then blamed the supervisory agencies—as though he was but an onlooker. His Cabinet colleague, the ever-unconvincing Ravishankar Prasad, blamed the Congress for the mess. He was no doubt seeing
  Indira Gandhi’s bank nationalisation as the reason for the mess. Being a fair man, he didn’t blame the Italian grain merchants who (…)

• Integrated Child Development Scheme in Haryana: Some Observations

  12 March 2018

  by Manju Panwar
  Introduction
  It is said that the future of tomorrow is in the hands of children. But this is only possible if they are strong enough physically and mentally. They must be given adequate nutrition and health care facilities for making them strong. It is now acknowledged worldwide that the economic development of any nation depends upon the investment in human resources development. Children are the most important component of development not only because they are (…)

• {International Women’s Day: Challenge before Indian Women

  12 March 2018, by Gargi Chakravartty

  March Eight, the International Women’s Day, reminds us of the struggle of the working women, particularly of the garment workers on the streets of Chicago on March 8, 1908. It also reminds us of the 1911 strike on the same day in a textile factory in New York in which a group of women workers had died in a fire as they were locked up thereby preventing them from leaving before the working hour was over. This was the famous shirtwaist factory fire. At the Second International Conference of (…)

• Triple Talaaq Bill

  12 March 2018

  by Noor Zaheer
  The much hyped Triple Talaaq Bill did not manage to go through the Rajya Sabha and the blame game has done the expected rounds with the Opposition and ruling parties accusing and counter-accusing each other and of course the media crying itself hoarse. This has become the square with the Muslim clergy forming the fourth angle and the Muslim woman, who was supposed to be the sufferer, the plaintiff and the beneficiary, being reduced to a non-entity.
  Personal laws have been (…)

• Where did we go wrong?

  12 March 2018, by Kuldip Nayar

  I have always wondered where we went wrong. After adopting a constitution which was secular in letter and spirit, we have strayed into the territory where every pebble is an impediment to the journey towards pluralism. India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, said on the night of August 14-15, 1947, in Parliament (what became popularly known as the ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech):
  “The future beckons to us... We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem (…)

• Simultaneous Elections

  12 March 2018, by P.B. Sawant

  Our country is a federal state with its constituting units, namely, the States having autonomy of governance in the subjects allotted to them by the Constitution. Federalism is also one of the basic features of our Constitution. The constitution of Legislative Assemblies and of the State governments is also one of the autonomous functions of the State. The Union Government cannot interfere with the governance of the State except when there is a proclamation of Emergency under Articles 352, (…)

• Why in the Name of God?

  12 March 2018

  I’m not sure I know much about you. But they say you exist; that’s why the earth moves, life breathes.
  Some also pronounce you’re long banished, probably dead, a bit of has-been now.
  A few, however, claim mandates of heaven, each boasting of an exclusive frequency.
  But ignorant, credulous as we remain, we hear about you in language they prefer to use.
  Yet this much is sunlit my neighbour and I do exist, have to live in peace and harmony.
  Why, then, is this deafening din of coiling (…)

• I Dance and Sing

  12 March 2018

  I dance and sing
  They think they’ve done no injury to me
  I laugh and rejoice
  They think they’ve been kind to me
  I eat and feast
  The think they didn’t snatch away my food
  I speak and discuss
  They think they didn’t gag me
  I write and protest
  They think they didn’t try to kill me
  I rise and raise my hand
  They think they didn’t put me down
  I go to shops and buy a little
  They think they didn’t steal my money
  I paint and recite
  They think they didn’t break my pen
  I (…)

• Non-Congressism to Anti-BJPism: India’s Political Imperative

  12 March 2018

  by Vijay Pratap
  Lohia’s Non-Congressism
  Non-Congressism was born out of the imagination of a political leader who died on October 12, 1967 at the age of fiftyseven, when his dreams were still alive. Dr Rammanohar Lohia had put forward the idea that all Opposition groups should come together to provide an alternative to the Congress.
  For Lohia, it was not an easy task for many reasons. The Congress had not exhausted all its moral and political potential. Opposition parties like the (…)

• Opposition Parties should be Committed to Re-establishment of Planning Commission

  12 March 2018, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  With the passage of time the serious vacuum left behind by the sudden and arbitrary dismantling of the Planning Commission is being felt more and more. The Niti Aayog was neither meant to fulfill the important role of the Planning Commission nor can it be expected to do so. Hence the demand for the re-establishment of the Planning Commission should be raised strongly by more and more Opposition parties, and they should include this demand and issue firmly in their future (…)