Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Mahatma Gandhi and Bharat Mata ki Jai

  23 May 2016

  by S.N. SAHU
  Nationalism has always been a driving force in uniting people and mobilising them on diverse issues. In many phases of history humanity has witnessed the use of nationalism as a fierce doctrine to arouse hatred and promote violence against nationalities of other nations and stoke war and violence. Europe and the rest of the world faced devastating consequences of aggression and hostility on account of nationalism which emerged in that continent in an intense form and became a (…)

• Better Water Management will Also Help in Resolution of Inter-State Water Conflicts

  23 May 2016

  COMMUNICATION
  Water disputes involving two or more States have frequently become a source of avoidable tensions in India. One recent instance is the conflict which has emerged once again over the construction of the Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal (SYL) between Punjab and Haryana. Matters appeared to be getting out of hand and could be temporarily brought to some control only after the intervention of the Supreme Court. This tendency of unilateral action and very sudden escalation of tensions (…)

• War for Water in India

  23 May 2016

  by P. Sakthivel
  “The World Cannot Survive without Water and Morality Cannot Exist without Rains.”—Thirukkural (20)
  “Anyone who can solve the problems of Water will be worthy of two Nobel Prizes—one for Peace and one for Science.” —John F. Kennedy
  In India we have in the recent past witnessed water-related political, economic and social tension in various States leading to imposition of Section 144 in order to prevent any human conflicts. The water wars range from the sharing of (…)

• India, Eurasia, SCO: What Needs to be Done

  23 May 2016

  by Michael Todd
  On account of its preoccupation with efforts to develop strategic ties with the US and advance its “Look East” policy, India has overlooked the importance of the Eurasian region which is at the centre of the interests of the major world powers. Even though New Delhi declared its “Connect Central Asia Policy” in 2012. this was effectively placed on the backburner by the previous UPA Government at the Centre itself. True, present PM Narendra Modi’s tour of Central Asia in (…)

• Elections: Trends and Projections

  23 May 2016, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  In the midst of a general election, it is obviously unfair to predict who or which party is going to emerge victorious or be in a position to form the next government. This is doubly true in a situation facing us today in which no party can claim to win outright the majority of seats in the Lok Sabha. The absence of a ‘wave’ or a definite issue round which the election campaign has centred makes all forecasts mere guesswork. However, there are certain trends which are (…)

• Making Sense of the Struggle at JNU: A Call for Action

  23 May 2016

  by Vikas Bajpai
  The following article was written before the indefinite hunger strike by the JNU students ended following the Court order to keep the authorities’ disciplinary action in abeyance by staying it for now. However, in view of the importance of the points raised by it, it is being belatedly published for the benefit of our readers.
  Even as I write these lines, the indefinite hunger strike of the students at JNU has entered its fifteenth day. The students there are demanding (…)

• Do Educational Institutions need Lectures on Patriotism?

  23 May 2016

  by RAM PUNIYANI
  The issues related to our educational institutions’ patriotism started coming up to the fore with this government coming to power (May 2014). One after the other news of govern-ment intervention in different institutions, more so the nationally well-known ones, started disturbing us. There was the case of IIT-Madras where the Periyar Ambedkar Study Circle was banned. Then IIT-Bombay Director Prof Shevgaonkar resigned due to the high-handed attitude of the Ministry of HRD. (…)

• The Inheritance of the Congress Socialist Party

  23 May 2016

  by Prem Singh
  At the time of the establishment of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) on May 17, 1934 in Patna, under the chairmanship of the patriarch of the Indian Socialist Movement, Acharya Narendra Deva, two goals were clear: to achieve the independence of the country and to enhance the pace of the organised efforts towards establishing a socialist system. To achieve both of these goals, it was necessary to strengthen the true anti-imperialist spirit. At the first All India Congress (…)

• Lucid Account of Pakistan’s Existence and Future

  23 May 2016

  BOOK REVIEW
  CALL FOR ISLAMABAD’S TRANSFORMATION TO MAKE IT GOVERNABLE AND FOCUSSED ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
  Aejaz Ahmad and Zaboor Ahmad
  Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military by Hussain Haqqani; Penguin Viking Books; 2016; pages 464.
  Hussain Haqqani’s book, Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military is a straightforward insider’s account of Pakistan that traces how the military and religious groups are acting in tandem to rub each other’s shoulders and explores the nation’s quest for (…)

• Lest We Forget

  23 May 2016

  Several noted personalities passed away in the last few days,
  On April 27 veteran CPI-M leader and former Education Minister in the West Bengal Left Front Ministry, Kanti Biswas, 84, breathed his last in Kolkata. He was suffering from diseases related to old age.
  Kanti Biswas’ original ancestral home was in Faridpur district of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). He migrated to India in 1965 and began residing in the Bongaon region of 24-Parganas, West Bengal. He came in contact with CPI (…)