Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Chief Justice and his Powers

  13 February 2018, by P.B. Sawant

  The present controversy over the powers of the Chief Justice, whether of the Supreme Court or of the High Court to constitute, the Benches of the respective Courts, has more than one dimension. The constitution of benches is undoubtedly an administrative matter and should ordinarily be the privilege of the Chief Justice as the administrative head of the Court. But neither is the Court an administrative institution nor is the power to constitute the Benches, ordinary. The function of the (…)

• Is there a Threat to the Constitution?

  13 February 2018, by Sudhir Vombatkere

  On January 13, 2018, four Supreme Court of India justices ranked in seniority immediately after the CJI, addressed the media concerning problems within the Supreme Court. Among other things, they asserted that democracy was in danger. Quite naturally, this created a public furore, with articles and statements for and against what the judges had said and also about the propriety or otherwise of their airing matters internal to the apex judiciary.
  One may note two important allegations from (…)

• The Uncontested and Contested Idea of ‘New India’

  13 February 2018

  by Suranjita Ray
  The ‘New India’ that would emerge by 2022 shall be free of communalism, casteism, terrorism, corruption, and nepotism. It is about Shanti, Ekta and Sadbhavana (peace, unity and harmony) and violence in the name of faith is not acceptable. This was unfolded by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on the 70th anniversary of our independence. The major steps towards building a new India were underlined as the biggest strength of democracy. To name a (…)

• Challenges Confronting Indian Republic

  13 February 2018

  by D. Raja
  India in 2018 confronts mounting challenges of crisis proportions. Such challenges are products of the divide and misrule of the BJP-led NDA regime over a period of three years. Never ever in post-independent India has the country faced such intense and devious polarisation in society the magnitude of which was seen at the time of the partition of India following our independence. The NDA regime is recreating that situation in a calculated manner for political gains and with an (…)

• Does BJP want to Change Indian Constitution?

  13 February 2018

  by Ram Puniyani
  The BJP, which believes in Hindu nationalism, faces the dilemma about the Indian Constitution. Necessarily it has to pay its obeisance to Indian Constitution for electoral purpose to be sure. It has to seek votes from all sections of society including Dalits and other marginalised segments for whom this Constitution is a liberator. At present, the BJP’s electoral strength is not adequate for changing the Constitution, so it cannot talk openly about the same. In addition the (…)

• The Nature of Naxalite Movement in Naxalbari

  13 February 2018, by J.J. Roy Burman

  In the June 5-11, 2009 issue of Mainstream weekly I had concluded that the Naxalite movement in Naxalbari in 1967 was neither a tribal movement nor a peasant movement; it was an ethnic upsurge in which migrant adivasi tea plantation labourers played an active role in grabbing Rajbangshi lands located next to the plantations. But for the present, I have second thoughts about it. When I look into the constitution of the organisations of the plantation labourers, I find very few of them in the (…)

• Sri Lanka Local Bodies’ Elections

  13 February 2018

  by Gautam Sen
  A total of 15.8 million Sri Lankans will vote in the country’s third tier elections on February 10, 2018 to chose 8293 members to 341 local bodies, namely, 24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 276 pradeshiya sabhas or divisional councils. These elections would be within the provisions of Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Act-21 of 2012 and Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act-22 of 2012. A mixed electoral system will be followed wherein, 60 per cent of the (…)

• The Castle in Davos

  13 February 2018

  by Binoy Viswam
  The reasons are yet unknown but Prime Minister Narendra Modi did open his mouth against the policy of protectionism in the World Economic Forum meet at Davos. Of course without mentioning the US by name he tried to express the resentment of the developing world on the question of protectionism. This change of tone must be part of a calculated move to impress upon the participating nations that India under his rule has the capacity to voice their concerns. In order to add (…)

• Today’s Imperative

  13 February 2018, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The time has come when we can no longer afford to indulge in mutual recrimination. The time has come for us to hang our heads in shame.
  What has happened at Moradabad is a blot on our patriotism. No amount of quibbling, finding fault with each other, can save us from the ignominy of having to face a situation in which citizens of this country were shot dead by the police for the crime of belonging to a minority community. It is an indication of the magnitude of (…)

• Karat’s Suicide Mode: RSS Approves

  13 February 2018, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  We have to sympathise with Communist hardliner Prakash Karat. He is unable to decide whether Enemy No. 1 is the BJP or Sitaram Yechury. In public he said it was the BJP. In action he moved against Yechury’s line of electoral understanding with other parties including the Congress. His stand was such a boost to the RSS-BJP that their party organ wrote an editorial saying Karat was “right”. That’s a testimonial no other Communist leader has got from the Hindutva circles. (…)