Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Warmongers are Anti-National

  23 October 2016, by Sandeep Pandey

  The Indian Government, after the surgical strikes on September 29, 2016, the details of which have not been made very clear, in response to the Uri attack on September 18, appears to be in a complacent mood as a result of something which it deems to be an accomplishment. This is similar to the nuclear tests conducted on May 11, 1998. Even then some BJP leaders indulged in chest-thumping; some were issuing warnings and threats to Pakistan. But before the end of that month, Pakistan too (…)

• Is India Rising? What are the New Hopes, New Fears? A Reporter’s Account makes for a Readable Story

  23 October 2016, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  There is no end to books coming out on India. On Narendra Modi alone there are already more than a dozen. Expect more. Obviously the market is good even if some books say nothing a la P.V. Narasimha Rao’s two “autobiographies”. Journalists, fabled as composers of “the first draft of history”, often tend to take sides. When they don’t, some worthwhile books come out such as Inder Malhotra’s biography of Indira Gandhi. Into this category falls India Rising: Fresh Hopes, New Fears (…)

• Controversy over Kerala Onam and Vamana Jayanti

  23 October 2016

  by Varghese P.J.
  From time immemorial Onam has been celebrated for a particular period of time as an agricultural festival based on a common belief of Mahabali’s reign which provided welfare of all irrespective of caste, religion and other class divisions. As for the people of Kerala the only hero during Onam is an Asura king popularly known as Maveli. Hence Onam is considered as a popular festival of the region for all the religions, not a Hindu festival. It has been believed for myriads (…)

• Saffron Law in Congress-ruled Karnataka

  23 October 2016, by Ambrose Pinto

  The pseudo-nationalists have made Kashmir an issue of nationalism in Karnataka. If indivi-duals or groups meet together to discuss or debate on Kashmir or screen a documentary about Kashmir, it is termed an anti-national act. In the month of August at a meeting held at an important city college, I was requested to preside over a panel, consisting of two Professors—one from the University of Bangalore and another from a Centrally-funded university—a Kashmiri journalist working in Bangalore (…)

• The Kaziranga Killing

  23 October 2016

  by Mohammad Nurul Hassan
  The gunning down of two persons by the Assam Police in the protest march against the eviction drive in Kaziranga is a serious matter for marginal communities across the globe. Being one of the marginalised groups, Muslims in Assam have been facing different levels of humiliation as well as atrocities at regular intervals. It started with the killing and harass-ment in the post-partition riots, during the Assam Movement and even in the post-Assam Movement era, for (…)

• Afghanistan: Caught in a Vicious Grip

  23 October 2016, by Apratim Mukarji

  In early October, an international donors’ conference hosted by the European Union (EU) in Brussels declared a US $ 15. 2 billion aid package for Afghanistan to run till 2020, almost at par with the quantum of such funding provided so far. “A remarkabl(y) impressive amount,” said the EU in a self-congratulatory statement.
  But the munificence of the EU went far beyond the adorable global will to continue to help Afghanistan stand on its feet. For, this truly impressive package is actually a (…)

• Identity of the Dead

  23 October 2016

  Sunlight slanting through the branches
  fell on a dead body lying
  beneath the roadside tree;
  unshaven face, sunken eye sockets,
  tattered clothes covering a skeleton
  of hunger, neglect, deprivation.
  The onlookers stopped awhile,
  gathered at the site,
  cast a curious glance, then went away.
  Nothing surprising,
  such scenes not unusual;
  soon it faded from the collective memory.
  But suddenly there was a commotion.
  A rumour was afloat:
  the dead man might be a Dalit.
  Queries started (…)

• Socialism for Our Times

  23 October 2016, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  In the perception of most people socialism is identified with a system based on economic equality and a path of planned economic development to ensure this equality.
  This basic principle of equality should get very wide support. In fact we start with this basic precept.
  However, one problem is that some who started with this basic principle moved away from it at the practical level because they did not have a proper understanding of what constitutes progress and (…)

• The Political Ontology of Public Policy

  23 October 2016

  by Murzban Jal
  Ontology cannot lay hold of a fart. —Jacques Derrida, Glas
  Searching for the Public Space
  It was Surendra Barlingay, one of the charismatic figures of the philosophical movement in Maharashtra and the founding figure of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pune (now Savitribai Phule Pune University), who had talked of the origins of philosophy lying in wonder (for him with Plato and Western philosophy) and misery (in India).1
  In a certain sense (especially (…)

• Bhupesh: Some Reminiscences

  23 October 2016, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  CPI stalwart and legendary Communist parliamentarian Bhupesh Gupta, the longest serving Member in the Rajya Sabha, would have turned 102 on October 20 this year. We remember him now with the following tribute that N.C. had penned after his death in Moscow on August 6, 1981. We are also reproducing Bhupesh Gupta’s memorable speech in the Rajya Sabha on June 22, 1977 when he was felicitated on completing 25 years of meritorous service as a Member of the Upper House of (…)