Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Age of the Nonaligned

  12 April 2013, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The Seventh Non-Aligned Summit took place in New Delhi from March 7 to 12, 1983. To mark the thirtieth anniversary of that event we are carrying the following pieces of N.C. that appeared in Mainstream (March 19, 1983) after the conclusion of the Summit—the first as the ‘Editor’s Notebook’ and the other as a write-up in the same issue.
  The river of History looks placid: only when the snows melt on the high mountains do floods break the banks and sweep away all the (…)

• Men and Mountains

  12 April 2013, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  “The Conference is over. The concord must endure.” With these words, almost Biblical in their pithy simplicity, Indira Gandhi announced in Vigyan Bhavan on March 12 the end of the Seventh Summit of the Nonaligned countries. It was a moving moment, the new milepost in the long journey of millions upon millions from continents far and near, who have broken the fetters of colonial bondage and are striving for a better world to live in.
  A star-studded conclave comprising the majority of (…)

• Only Option for the Left to Survive in Today’s Environment

  12 April 2013

  BOOK REVIEW
  by Bishwajit Sen
  Marxism and the Indian Left: From “Interpreting” India to “Changing” it by Sumanta Banerjee; Purbalok Publication, Kolkata; Price: Rs 400; First Published 2012.
  History sometimes poses seemingly insoluble riddles to the observer. Decimation of the Marxist ideals is one such riddle. It seems to be just the other day when the glory of the Red Flag was all-pervasive. The Soviet Union was glowing and so was China to their own faithful. On the native turf, West (…)

• Dalit and Tribal Representatives in Chains: A Gift of Joint Electorate

  12 April 2013, by A K Biswas

  In the winter session of Parliament, the Government of India introduced the 117th Constitution Amendment Bill on December 20, 2012 that would entitle the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe government employees for promotion in services. The Samajwadi Party, beforehand, had declared its anti-reservation stance. The Bill was earlier passed by the Rajya Sabha. When the Union Minister of State for Personnel and Administrative Reforms tried to introduce the Bill, Yashvir Singh, a Dhobi by caste (…)

• Opulent Kerala and Evil-eyed
 Planning Commission

  12 April 2013, by K G Somasekharan Nair

  While lecturing at a function in Kochi on September 11, 2012, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, exhorted the Keralites to move out of paddy cultivation and use paddy fields for industries or other profitable purposes. As he is the bureaucratic head of the Planning Commission and the venue was an official meeting conducted by the Government of Kerala, what he said was not his personal opinion but the official decision. In order to arrive at this decision (…)

• Rajimwale Duped by Anticommunist Falsehoods

  12 April 2013

  COMMUNICATION
  Grover Furr’s book, Khurshchev Lied: The Evidence That Every “Revelation

• Outcome at Durban

  7 April 2013, by SC

  The situation in the Korean Peninsula has suddenly worsened due to a variiety of reasons wherein the US role behind the deterioration of the prevailing political environment cannot be minimised. A nuclear confrontation that could lead to global conflagration and annihilation stares us all in the face. Of course, Washington is unfazed and feels the North Korean posturing may not lead to anything in the ultimate analysis, that is, Pyongyang may eventually back off. Nevertheless, there is no (…)

• BRICS: From Dialogue Forum to a Mechanism of Strategic Cooperation

  7 April 2013

  by T.R. Krishnan
  This article was written before the conclusion of the BRICS Summit at Durban. It is being published now as the validity of its contents remain undiminished till date. An analysis of the course of development of the BRICS grouping comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa leads one to the distinct conclusion that this organisation is gradually evolving from a dialogue forum with consultative functions into a body endowed with a fullscale mechanism of (…)

• North Korea’s Nuclear Ambition: Issues and Challenges

  7 April 2013

  by Sudhakar Vaddi
  The Korean Peninsula has again become a volatile region and two recent incidents have sent a strong message to the international community that peace is at stake. Tension escalated after North Korea’s controversial rocket launch in December and its third underground nuclear test on February 12, 2013. Both acts led to the Security Council resolutions 2087 and 2094 which debarred the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) from testing or using nuclear or ballistic (…)

• Tax Residency Certificate eclipses Agriculture in Post-Budget 2013-14 Reactions

  7 April 2013, by J. George

  The post-Budget reactions to apprehensions on the tax residency certificate (TRC) expected from the foreign institutional investment (FII) or the foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals completely eclipsed the Finance Minister’s 22 per cent hike in the Central Plan outlays for agriculture and allied activities over the truncated 2012-13 revised estimates (RE). This is grossly unfair. There are, in fact, global concerns on the apparent business practices that erode the business base in (…)