Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• So Distant from India and So Close to Gandhi: A Note on a Gandhian President of a South American Republic

  1 December 2013, by Syed Shahabuddin

  Uruguay is the second smallest state in South America with a GDP of $ 56.3 billion and a per capita GDP of $ 16,600. Jose Mujica, the head of state elected under the Constitution as the President of Uruguay, controls the Secretariat of the Presidency, the Council of Ministers and the office of Planning and Budget. He is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The President and Vice-President are elected by direct elections for a period of five years, but without the right of (…)

• A Gentleman in Politics

  1 December 2013, by Kuldip Nayar

  At a time when politicians have come down to the level of street urchins, hurling abuses at each other and when the surveillance of even an individual is not considered an intrusion into privacy, the memory of the late Prime Minister, Inder Kumar Gujral, is like a fresh air. He was urbane, civil and never raised his voice when an opponent lost his cool. This November 30 is his first death anniversary.
  Throughout his political career, either as a Foreign Minister or as the Prime Minister, (…)

• Casual Amateurishness

  1 December 2013, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Perhaps never before a foreign-affairs issue has been so badly mishandled as the sudden deportation of three Lanka Tamil leaders from India by the Rajiv Gandhi Government. It has been an amazing piece of thoughtlessness on the part of the government to have gone in for such a step without pausing to weigh its consequences, pro and con.
  What is further intriguing is that the Foreign Office does not seem to take the responsibility for having initiated it. While it will (…)

• World Rethinks Opinion on Putin’s Russia

  1 December 2013

  Russian President Vladimir Putin tops his US counterpart, Barack Obama, on the Forbes list for “world’s most powerful person”. The news has become one of the hottest topics in the world.
  Russian media are pleased with the ranking and public opinion in China also reacted positively. Proceeding from the nation’s geopolitical interests, the Chinese public is willing to see a strong Russia, although Moscow is on a different road now.
  Most support the reversal of Putin and Obama in the Forbes (…)

• Gandhi, Patel versus Modi

  1 December 2013, by Subhash Gatade

  Narendra Modi (NaMo, as he is popularly known) wants to usher in a ‘Congress-free India’. In his maiden speech after being elected as the Election Campaign Chief at the party’s Goa conclave, he had clearly said this in no uncertain terms.
  As one can recall this part of his speech came under severe criticism and it was underlined that it shows his fascistic mindset. It was said that Modi does not want merely to defeat the Congress politically but wants to obliterate it completely as if the (…)

• Thanks to Modi, Sardar Patel Lives Again and ‘True Secularism’ is Discovered

  1 December 2013, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Our scientists lift us up to Mars, our politicians drag us down to the pits. The cameras on Mangalyan will not make our dog-fighting parties look any better. Not when Sardar Patel himself is turned into a battle axe to hit one another with. Narendra Modi’s bid for the legacy of Sardar Patel is understandable. But trying to win it by erecting the world’s biggest statue is condemnable. Size is not substance. More importantly, the politics of the Patel statue is divisive and it (…)

• Is there a Hindu Left?

  1 December 2013, by S G Vombatkere

  Left and Right
  The contemporary meaning of the political Left and Right originates from the French Revolution (1789-1799). Those who sat on the left opposed monarchy and supported the revolution, including creation of the republic. Those who sat on the right supported the traditional institutions of the erstwhile monarchic regime. In modern times, the Left approach “describes an outlook or specific position that accepts or supports social equality, often in opposition to social hieracrchy (…)

• A Citizens’ Agenda for Change

  1 December 2013

  DOCUMENT
  The following is the full text of a document prepared by the Council for Social Development, New Delhi. It was released at a press conference in the Capital addressed by Prof Muchkund Dubey, the CSD President; Prof Amit Bhaduri, Prof Manoranjan Mohanty, K.B. Saxena, the Council’s senior faculty members; and T. Haque, the CSD Director, on November 26, 2013.
  In the context of the forthcoming general elections, it is important to think through a citizens’ guide to governance and (…)

• A Democratic Exercise, not Holy War

  1 December 2013

  by Arun Srivastava
  The elections to the five State Assemblies have put the real face of Narendra Modi before the people of India, specially the burgeoning middle class which aspires to control the fulcrum of the state machinery and governance, as well as before the marginalised Indians who constitute 60 per cent of the population. So far Modi was confined to his home State, people did not have the correct input about his political, administrative and intellectual capabilities and as such (…)

• Authoritative Focus on Concerns of the Poor and Marginalised

  1 December 2013, by Vijay Kumar

  BOOK REVIEW
  An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen; Allen Lane; 2013; pages: 413.
  The book under review is a powerful and authoritative intervention for more vigorous and pervasive state action, at least in the arena of basic education and health care, so that human capabilities and human freedoms could be expanded.
  The book rightly starts with the positive achievements in the last sixtysix years by entrenching democracy and making India as (…)