Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Brahmo Samaj and Toiling People

  7 December 2013, by Chinmohan Sehanavis

  A very sound criterion for judging the character of any social movement, is its attitude towards the toiling people, denizens of the “lower depths” of the society. This is particularly so because it has a very pertinent relevance to our contemporary world with its widespread and deep, underlying social tensions and conflicts.
  Insofar as the Brahmo Samaj signifies a vital social movement during the modern phase of our history—rather than yet another in this land of countless religious (…)

• India-China Relations: Conflicting Claims and Strategic Interests

  7 December 2013, by Latika Nath

  India-China relations over the years have seen a meandering course. Decades ago India supported a young communist China, making every effort to end its isolation at the international level. Today Sino-Indian relations have moved away in different directions. China has overtaken India in international trade, finance and marketing, to mention a few. China’s border differences as in the case of neighbours have also increased over the years as in the case of India and Japan. The South China Sea (…)

• Nehru versus Patel

  7 December 2013, by Kuldip Nayar

  India’s interests would have been served better if Sardar Patel, in place of Jawaharlal Nehru, had been the country’s Prime Minister. This hypothetical possibility had been voiced by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during the poll campaign as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 Parliament elections.
  Of all the leaders, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Nehru’s friend, guide and philosopher, came to the same conclusion after watching Nehru as an administrator. (…)

• Win or Lose for the Kejriwal Juggernaut? Either Way, it Could Make a Difference

  7 December 2013, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Essentially Arvind Kejriwal is a political accident, the kind that flashes across the scene one moment and is forgotten the next. But his movement is making a buzz that no one can deny. While his ideas are a contributing factor, the main reason for the buzz lies outside his persona and programme. He has become a symbol of the general public’s disgust with the reigning political class. For too long have the people been suffering at the hands of exploiters robbing and ruining the (…)

• Nikhilda

  7 December 2013, by Barun Das Gupta

  Nikhilda was brought into journalism by Puran Chandra Joshi, better known as P.C. Joshi, during the Bengal famine of 1943. Joshi was the General Secretary of the CPI at that time. Before that, for a brief period, Nikhilda had taught history in the Calcutta University. Under Joshi’s guidance, several other young Communist activists contributed their best during that period and earned a name for themselves in their respective fields like Sunil Janah as a photographer whol chronicled the famine (…)

• December 16 — A Day of Glory or Shame?

  7 December 2013

  WOMEN’S WORLD
  by Shruti
  A number of non-government organisations have demanded December 16 be declared a day of remembrance for Jyoti. For newbees, Jyoti was the December 16 girl whose ghastly rape and subsequent death temporarily shook collective India out of its complacency with the neo-liberal gender balance. Unfortunately, she lost her name along with her life. The victim of one of the most infamous crimes in history was rechristened variously as “Nirbhaya” and “Damini” quite without (…)

• Is this a Party with a Difference?

  7 December 2013

  COMMUNICATION
  The BJP boasts of being a political party quite different from all other Indian political parties and this is quite correct. The glaring example of this is the way and manner in which the party has been trying to enlist the support of Muslims by concealing the real face and image of Narendra Modi and projecting him as a secular leader and resorting to token secularism by making all efforts to ensure that Muslim men wearing skull caps and Muslim women in burqas attend his (…)

• Beyond the Sordid Events at Home

  1 December 2013, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  If the conviction and life sentence awarded by a special CBI court in Ghaziabad this week to the dentist couple, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, for the double murder of their only 14-year-old daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj five-and-a-half years after they were found dead in the couple’s NOIDA apartment have been met with a sense of disbelief by not just the Talwar’s relatives but even some of Aarushi’s close friends, the sexual assault case involving the Tehelka (…)

• The Iran Deal: Enlightening the Global Picture

  1 December 2013, by Uttam Sen

  The détente in Iran may appear unreal, if for no other reason than India so providentially gaining with the hope of uninterrupted oil supplies to check prices and curb inflation. Providence appears too timely to be true. There are other benefits like the reduction of India’s import bill and the easing of foreign exchange pressure. India will be able to buy more Iranian crude and Indian companies can renew stalled projects. Additionally, the India-Pakistani gas pipeline will get a fresh lease (…)

• A Symphony of the Absurd

  1 December 2013, by Ambrose Pinto

  To secular Indians, who hold that religion belongs to the private and personal space, two recent national events of three state agencies should be a matter of concern. The first one was the act of ISRO Chairman Dr K. Radhakrishnan performing pooja with the replica of the Mars Orbiter Mission at the Lord Venkateshwara Temple in Tirupati a day before the launch of the spacecraft from Sriharikota. The second one was the digging for gold by the Archaeological Department with support from the (…)