Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• People’s Agenda on Administrative Reforms

  28 July 2013

  by B.K. Manish
  Looking at the hundred odd reports spanning the last two centuries available with the Department of Personnel and Training one would be forgiven on surmising that administrative reforms stands for bureaucracy reforms. Tiers, layers, list of subjects return with such good frequency they appear an end unto themselves rather than cogs in the wheel of Peace and Good Government. In fact this discourse could well be called retired administrators-bureaucrats reflecting at their (…)

• Politics a la Manto

  28 July 2013

  by Naresh Nadeem
  The present paper is an attempt to bring out how Manto was one of the finest products of the progressive cultural movement of our country and upheld its values and tradition despite all his idiosyncrasies.
  The title of the paper may sound puzzling as Sa’âdat Hasan Manto (May 11, 1912-January 18, 1955) was not known to have been associated with any political party or group; rather he, a maverick, was by his very nature not cut out for any such association. Yet it does not (…)

• UNICEF India Statement on Child Deaths in Bihar due to Mid-Day Meal Consumption

  28 July 2013

  UNICEF expresses deep sorrow at the loss of lives of children in Bihar after consuming their mid day meals. These deaths could had been prevented with strict adherence to protocols for preparing the mid day meal.
  UNICEF is in touch with the concerned authorities to understand what happened and find ways to prevent such incidents from taking place in future.
  While acknowledging that India’s Mid-Day Meal Scheme is the largest school feeding programme in the world, and that the Government (…)

• An Introduction to the Issue of Dams

  28 July 2013

  BOOK REVIEW
  by Saurabh Mishra
  Modern Temples of India by Radha Kant Bharti; National Book Trust, India; 2011; ix+173; Rs 90.00 (Paperback); ISBN 978-81-237-6335-4.
  The book starts with contextualising the need of a large number of dams for a country like India. The Indian geography and climate compel the policy-makers to think of strong and efficient regulation and management of rain and river water through numerous large and small multipurpose dams on rivers.
  The urge for freedom (…)

• Representation or Resistance?

  28 July 2013

  COMMUNICATION
  The present times of globalisation and commercialisation offer a specific and elegant image of art, culture and aesthetics. Interestingly, the meaning of these words changes dramatically when the caste issue comes into the picture. An interesting article titled ‘Dalit Representation in Bollywood’ by Harish Wan-khede (Mainstream Vol. LI, No. 20, May 4, 2013) traces caste representation in Indian cinema as it marks its 100th anniversary. Caste is a peculiar Indian reality but (…)

• Corruption

  28 July 2013

  by Nidhi Sharma
  Corruption in a section of the government personnel is a lopsided exchange of finances between a section of the government personnel and the citizen in favour of a section of the government personnel; corruption is measured financially alone where one group, namely, the citizen pays more to a section of the government personnel than receiving payment from the latter. Corruption exists in a section of the government personnel when financial and economic benefit from a (…)

• US Trampling on Interests of Strategic: Partners to Satisfy its Own Aspirations

  28 July 2013

  by T.R. Choudhury
  The recent disclosures from American whistleblower Edward Snowden that the US’ National Security Agency shadowed telephone calls and e-mail correspondence of foreign nationals offer the clearest evidence till date of the fact that the United States, which prides itself as the principal advocate of democracy and human rights worldwide, is in effect the main offender of its professed values and international law as a whole. But what is really odd is that the White House (…)

• A Recipe for Insurgency or Revolt?

  21 July 2013, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  Howsoever much Gujarat CM Narendra Modi is able to inspire rank-and-file BJP cadres, steeped in the Hindutva mindset, the fact is that the person who was recently appointed the chief of the BJP’s campaign for the 2014 general elections is fast turning out to be a liability for the principal Opposition party at the Centre. This has been borne out by the outcome of his recent statements.
  First came his assertion that he was a ‘Hindu nationalist’. The emphasis on the word (…)

• Emergency of 1975 and the Judiciary

  21 July 2013, by Rajindar Sachar

  Nations which do not remember their immediate past are in danger of repeating the same tragedy. This thought came to me on June 26, 2013 (the Emergency day of 1975) when on random questioning of young persons in the 35 age-group (who are said to make up about half the population of the country), it was found that an overwhelming number of them knew nothing of any particular significance of the day—and what is more tragic, a fairly large number of people above the age of 35 fared no better. (…)

• Judicial Activism, Right or Wrong

  21 July 2013, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  When politicians as a community are in a state of siege in the eyes of the public, it is extremely short-sighted on the part of any government to make any move that may appear to the public as a means to cover up or to close the channels of the politician’s exposure.
  While in the public mind, corruption among politicians has become a live issue since the Bofors bribery scandal, it was during Narasimha Rao’s Prime Ministership that the enormity of corruption in (…)