Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Communal Disturbances in Sitamarhi, 1992

  10 February 2014, by A K Biswas

  A phone call from the District Magistrate about 8.30 in the morning on October 7 (?), 1992 startled me. I was informed from the other end that communal troubles on account of the Durga Puja immersion of idols had begun the previous night in the Sitamarhi town and engulfed the Riga town and some surrounding villages. The District Magistrate was palpably demoralised. He even expressed his apprehension that the angry and agitated mob could attack his official residence anytime. This was perhaps (…)

• Bapu Asaram Episode — Need for Wider and Transparent Investigation

  10 February 2014, by Bharat Dogra

  The Bapu Asaram episode has distressed and disturbed a very large number of people, and it is extremely important for truth and justice to prevail in this case. No one, no matter how resourceful and politically well connected, should be allowed to destroy evidence or otherwise hamper the process of justice.
  While first and foremost it should be ensured that justice is neither denied nor delayed in the latest case of sexual exploitation, it should be remembered that this is only one among (…)

• Whither India?

  28 January 2014, by SC

  The day our country observed its first Republic Day by adopting the Constitution of free India and proclaiming itself as a Republic, our first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, in a message to the nation on January 26, 1950, underscored the following:
  There is a peculiar appropriateness about this January 26, for this day links up the past with the present and this present is seen to grow out of that past. Twenty years ago we took the first pledge of independence. During these twenty years we have (…)

• Gandhi for Today

  28 January 2014

  On the occasion of the 66th anniversary of Gandhiji’s martyrdom on January 30 this year, we offer our sincere homage to his abiding memory by reproducing from his writings and utterances at the fag end of his life.
  Delhi is the metropolis of India. If, therefore, we really in our hearts do not subscribe to the two-nation theory, or in other words, if we do not regard the Hindus and the Muslims as constituting two distinct nations, we shall have to admit that the picture that the city of (…)

• Lead, kindly Light....

  28 January 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Every year we dutifully go through the ritual of offering homage to Gandhiji on the day of his martyrdom.
  We shall once again be witnessing the ceremony on January 30 to be conducted as per protocol—early morning prayer at Rajghat, singing of bhajans and hymns, a round of spinning and then during the course of the day, meetings and seminars and a special programme on Doordarshan to remind us of the Father of the Nation. VVIPs encircled by gun-totting security guards (…)

• Netaji on India’s Struggle for Freedom

  28 January 2014

  On January 23 this year falls Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 117th birth anniversary. On this occasion we are carrying the following excerpts from Netaji’s speeches for the benefit of our readers.
  The Indian movement can be analysed under two aspects: 1) the aspect of national liberation—this aspiration is understood by freedom lovers all over the world; 2) the endeavour to create a new social order on the basis of social justice.
  It is difficult to see the form the new social order will (…)

• Seventyfive Years of Planning in India (1938-2013)

  28 January 2014

  by Debabrata Biswas
  Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had the vision, with a mission, to establish socialism in India. Hence, even during the days of the freedom struggle he started planning for socialistic reconstruction after winning freedom through uncompromising struggle against British imperialism. As a part of this planning, one major step that he took was to form the Planning Committee for the first time in the history of India. After being elected the President of the Indian National (…)

• 2014 — Prospects for India in the New Year

  28 January 2014, by N V K Murthy

  India has started its sixtyseventh year of freedom from British rule. Much has happened in India and the world over these past sixty-six years. India faces a general election in 2014. It seems to be at the cross-roads of history. Which way will it go? That is a million dollar question troubling every Indian. History, they say, is of value because it provides us with lessons to learn. At the dawn of India’s freedom, the world was a very different place. Two devastating world wars had been (…)

• Reflections on Republic Day, 2014

  28 January 2014, by Syed Shahabuddin

  I
  Bleeding India, Burning India, Battered India, Beleaguered India, Bewildered India, Disintegrating India, Starving India, Dying India
  • in which democracy has become the government of the elite, by the elite, for the elite, dividing people vertically and horizontally;
  • in which the higher strata, the elite, form a separate nation, colonising the motherland;
  • in which politics has turned into commerce and trade;
  • in which Corruption has become a way of life in every sphere;
  • (…)

• AAP in Perspective: Birth of the ‘New Alternative’

  28 January 2014, by Diptendra Raychaudhuri

  As we stepped into 2014, India seemed prepared for a real socio-political leap forward. More significantly, this leap forward is characterised by one single word: Optimism. And this time this optimism is essentially anti-elitist, directed against the corrupt, opportunist, self-serving class that was dominating the scene since the 1990s. This optimism is still limited to the ‘common man’, that is, about 30 to 40 per cent of our people; but if the guardians of this ‘optimism’ do not falter (…)