Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Searching for the Woods

  16 May 2016, by Sagari Chhabra

  I went searching for the woods— Dark, dense and deep; But I fear they are no more to be seen.
  Whoever felled my beloved trees— Neem, palash, peepal, bargad—with an axe? I fear I did not see him, Oh! Do forgive my lapse!
  I was so intent in building towers of cement I quite forgot the hours spent, Under the boughs of the banyan tree On whose ariel shoots we swang, along which bonds of friendship And early love, just sprang.
  Then those very shoots became roots And in turn sprouted new (…)

• Tables Turned on BJP in Chopper Deal Debate

  7 May 2016, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  They had come prepared to put the Opposition Congress on the mat. ‘They’ meaning the new nominated member in the Upper House, Subramanian Swamy, and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in particular. But what happened at the end of the four-and-a-half-hour-long debate on the AgustaWestland helicopter deal in the Rajya Sabha was entirely different. As Hindustan Times noted,
  Ruling party speakers were at their wit’s end in the face of a concerted counter-offensive by Congress (…)

• Alternative National Plan and State-level Plans Badly Needed

  7 May 2016

  COMMUNICATION
  At a time when the processes and infra-structure of planning have been badly derailed in the country with the unceremonious dismantling of the Planning Commission, a challenge that should be taken up by indepen-dent scholars working with the cooperation of various people’s movements is to prepare alternative plans both at the national and State levels. This will help to give the people a more specific idea of what well-planned development effort based on justice, equality and (…)

• Vivekananda and the Sangh Parivar

  7 May 2016

  by Ashok Celly
  In his celebrated Chicago address, Swami Vivekananda declared that he was “proud to belong to a religion which had taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance”. He also took pride in the fact that “he belonged to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth”.
  The Sangh Parivar in general, and the Prime Minister in particular, are supposed to be great admirers of Swami Vivekananda. Do they share his (…)

• A Tribute to Gerassimos Arsenis (May 1931 - April 2016)

  7 May 2016, by Muchkund Dubey

  Prof Gerassimos Arsenis expired in Athens on April 19, 2016. He was an economist of international repute, an eminent international civil servant, a pioneer in the realm of ideas of international cooperation for development and a highly respected political figure for close to 20 years. In the last-mentioned capacity, he held the portfolios of the Minister of National Economy, Finance, Shipping, National Defence and National Education and Religious Affairs. He was a prominent-member of PASOK, (…)

• Attack on Bipan Chandra’s Views on Bhagat Singh - A Rejoinder

  7 May 2016

  The following is a rejoinder to the attack on Prof Bipan Chandra for his views on Bhagat Singh. The rejoinder is by the co-authors of the book India’s Struggle for Independence.
  A vicious attack was launched by BJP MP Anurag Thakur in the Lok Sabha in Zero hour today (April 27, 2016) and in a section of the media on India’s Struggle for Independence, a book published in 1988, 28 years ago, by Bipan Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee, Aditya Mukherjee, K.N. Panikkar and Sucheta Mahajan. Deliberate (…)

• Cameos / The Legacy for Tomorrow

  7 May 2016, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s 155th birth anniversary falls on Sunday (May 8, 2016). On this occasion we are reproducing two pieces by N.C. on Tagore written 75 years ago, in 1941. Both were published in The Calcutta Municipal Gazette—Tagore Memorial Special Supplement, September 13, 1941 (that appeared after the Poet’s death on August 7, 1941). The first piece was carried under the pseudonym Vanguard. Though written during World War II when the global scenario was (…)

• Rabindranath on Environment

  7 May 2016

  by Jayanta Kumar Ghosal
  The fierce aggression of consumerism is causing huge damage to ecology and environ-ment. The concern for protecting them has also gained momentum these days. Unrestricted misuse and exploitation of natural resources, in the name of ‘development’(actually mal-development) has led towards destruction of the world’s habitat. The natural world has been totally altered by the new and improved methods of production. Present-day mankind is being confronted by serious (…)

• Remembering Rabindranath Tagore on his 155th Birth Anniversary

  7 May 2016, by Gargi Chakravartty

  Today we are facing a frenzied furore on issues such as nationalism and patriotism artificially manufactured by the ruling dispensation which has created a vicious ambience whipping up divisiveness within our society. This recent trend to incite people with jingoistic ultra-nationalist feelings with a definite aim to target certain sections, mainly minorities, has bewildered the saner sections of our country. And precisely for this reason, we go back for solace to Rabindranath Tagore whose (…)

• Water, water everywhere, but . . .

  7 May 2016, by Kuldip Nayar

  Our real problem is population, I told this to an American Nobel Prize winner. He contradicted me and said: “Your problem is going to be water.” We were discussing the ordeals that India would face in the years to come. Our views did not tally even after a long discussion.
  What has happened at Latur, in a better-off State like Maharashtra, has renewed the American’s warning. Section 144 had to be clamped down to ensure that pots and pans were in an orderly queue to receive water from a (…)