Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Gandhi’s Relevance Increasing In Our Violent World

  9 October 2013, by Bharat Dogra

  As violence related distress and tensions escalate to alarming levels, Mahatma Gandhi’s enduring message of peace and non-violence is becoming more and more relevant. The costs of violence are most widely seen in the context of various war/conflict situations and acts of terrorism. There is no doubt that these problems are extremely serious. Much more so in terms of weapons of mass destruction, but no less serious is the silent distress caused by violence in everyday, routine life. Partly (…)

• Mahatma Gandhi — The Great Communicator

  9 October 2013, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The following is the text of the Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture 1995 delivered by Nikhil Chakravartty in New Delhi on January 30, 1995. It first appeared in Mainstream (October 3, 1998) after N.C.’s demise. I am deeply touched by having been asked to deliver this year’s Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture. Nobody is more conscious than I am about my inadequacy in speaking on this sacred occasion, the day of the martyrdom of the greatest son of my country. Perhaps my only (…)

• Thambi Naidoo and Kasturba Gandhi’s Role behind the South African Satyagraha’s Success

  9 October 2013

  by E.S. Reddy
  The Satyagraha in South Africa, led by Gandhi a century ago, owes its success, in large measure, to the sacrifice and leadership of Thambi Naidoo and to the “silent suffering” of Mrs Kasturba Gandhi. Their contribution, however, has received little recognition in the writings on the satyagraha. The satyagraha was confined to the Transvaal from 1906 when the Indian community pledged to defy the humiliating Asiatic Ordinance until it was suspended on May 20, 1911, when Gandhi (…)

• Need for Eco-Literacy

  9 October 2013, by Sailendra Nath Ghosh

  COMMUNICATION
  When Nature’s laws are flouted and Ecology Illiterates rule the roost, man-made disasters are bound to happen.
  The notification by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, dated December 18, 2012, correctly stated that the 135 km stretch from Goumukh to Uttarkashi is an eco-sensitive area. Its implication was that the series of hydro-electric projects planned along the river Bhagirathi needed to be abandoned and the construction of hotels and resorts needed to be (…)

• Impact of Lenin on Bhagat Singh’s Life

  9 October 2013, by Chinmohan Sehanavis

  Bhagat Singh’s 106th birth anniversary took place on September 28 this year. To mark the occasion we are reproducing the following article which appeared in Mainstream (April 4, 1981).
  Bhagat Singh was born in Punjab on September 28, 1907, and was hanged by the British on March 23, 1931. So it may be said that in his short life-span of 24 years political activities covered at the most a period of seven to eight years. The young Indian revolutionary was sentenced to death before he could (…)

• A New Opening

  1 October 2013, by SC

  “Political slugfest over V.K. Singh’s intel unit ops”—read the headline in one of the inside pages of The Times of India of September 21, 2013. A day earlier The Indian Express had a frontpage lead story under the heading: “Unit set up by V.K. Singh used secret funds to try and topple J&K Govt, block Bikram Singh: Army inquiry”. The report read thus:
  Misusing secret service funds to destabilise the Omar Abdullah Government in Jammu and Kashmir, to pay off an NGO to try change the line (…)

• Idea of India in Peril

  1 October 2013, by Kuldip Nayar

  Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has asked the Jamaat-Ulma Hind, representing the Muslims, to list four or five steps he should announce to win their confidence. The Jamaat has rightly pointed out that it was for Modi to think how to win the trust of Muslims. One thing Modi could do straightaway is to apologise for the 2002 riots in the State, reportedly blessed by him after the burning of some Hindu pilgrims in a (…)

• Why Syrian Question Matters

  1 October 2013, by M K Bhadrakumar

  Indian diplomacy can look back with satisfaction at the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg. The summit’s declaration echoed India’s concerns over the spillover effects of volatile currency withdrawals on the emerging economies. It recognised the principle of levy of taxes on the “multi-national companies” where they make profits—upholding a principle India espouses. Third, the BRICS, which met on the sidelines of G-20, decided to create a $ 100 billion fighting fund to steady the currency markets (…)

• Now it is Syria

  1 October 2013, by Sukumar Pathak

  After Afghanistan and Iraq it is now Syria’s turn to be devastated by incendiary and high explosive bombs, artillery shells and rockets by the American Army and Air Force.
  Afghanistan was accused of hiding Osama bin Laden; Iraq of having “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (WMDs); Syria is being accused of using chemical weapons in mid-August in a Damascus suburb that killed about 300. The USA was trying to get its planned strike against Syria approved by the Security Council of the UNO. But (…)

• Uphill to Peace

  1 October 2013, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The initial sense of relief at the announcement of the peace initiative in the Gulf has now given way to premonitions because of the US camp’s reluctance to respond. Whatever may be the final outcome of these peace negotiations, this makes a distinct watershed in the protracted Gulf crisis. The terrifying air blitz that was unleashed on January 17 by the US-led coalition forces—particularly by the American and the British—brought death and destruction on a scale (…)