Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Dimensions of Sri Lanka Crisis

  2 April 2012, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  The searing experience of genocidal attack on a whole minority group in neighbouring Sri Lanka has naturally sent shock waves throughout India. It would be wrong and invidious to regard it as a matter of emotional upsetting for the people of Tamil Nadu alone, as some circles bereft of a sense of national integration seem to suggest. In fact, the pre-planned gangsterism in Sri Lanka has spared no pains in turning it into an anti-Indian fury: nothing else can explain the (…)

• Stop Human Rights Violations, Adopt Practical Steps to Meaningful Reconciliation

  2 April 2012

  DOCUMENT
  The following is a Joint Statement of Sri Lankan intellectuals, mobilised under the aegis of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, issued on February 17, 2012. It could not be used earlier for unavoidable reasons.
  Several valuable recommendations are contai-ned in the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’s (LLRC) Report and they are all the more compelling because they have been issued from a Presidential Commission. In pursuance of this, we the undersigned call upon the (…)

• Need for a National Legislation for Journalists’ Protection

  2 April 2012, by Prabhakar Kulkarni

  Press freedom in our country is not a special privilege of journalists. It is the general principle of freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution for all citizens that is being enjoyed by journalists as citizens. In the absence of any special provision and privilege, no special protection for journalists is available today on the basis of any specific legislation.
  Whether or not special freedom needs to be given to journalists may be a matter of different opinions. But special (…)

• India’s Public Debt Explosion: Heading Towards Bankruptcy

  2 April 2012, by B P Mathur

  The huge public debt the Western countries have accumulated, has created an economic crisis and threatens their standard of living. Daniel Gross, the economic editor of Yahoo Finance, writing in Newsweek (Special Issue 2011) says: ‘Until now power has been defined largely by military strength, by control over vital resources like oil, but in coming years, ability to manage debt may be the best indicator where global economic power resides. Threats to sovereignty now come not from domestic (…)

• Russia Nudges Syria to Move On

  2 April 2012, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The United Nations Security Council statement on Syria on March 21 marks a turning point. The unanimity of opinion over the year-long crisis in Syria is appearing for the first time; why and how this happened needs to be understood. Russia finds itself in the driving seat in crafting the future of a key Middle East nation. This is unprecedented and it impacts the alchemy of ties between the presidency of Vladimir Putin and the West. Indeed, the Arab Spring won’t be the same again.
  But (…)

• Inside Free Bangladesh: Pilgrimage to Tagore’s Hermitage

  2 April 2012, by Sumit Chakravartty

  [The following article appeared forty years ago in Mainstream (January 15, 1972). It is being reproduced after forty years to mark the fortieth anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence on December 16, 1971 and the fortyfirst anniversary of Sheikh Mujib’s declaration of freedom struggle at Dacca’s Ramna Maidan on March 7, 1971 as well as the consequent West Pakistani military crackdawn on the East Pakistan people on March 26, 1971.]
  When Sonar Bangla is played as the national anthem of (…)

• Three letters in response to Ather Farouqi’s ’Islamic Banking in India at the Service of Pan-Islamists’

  2 April 2012

  COMMUNICATIONS
  Investors are Exposed and Exploited
  Apropos the commentary on Islamic banking entitled ‘Islamic Banking in India at the Service of Pan-Islamists’ in Mainstream (March 3, 2012), let me say that the proponents of Islamic banking are none other than radical Islamists, responsible for the distorted image of Muslims the world over. They offer nothing of merit in the name of Islamic banking vis-a-vis modern banking practices. The way they advance their logic is the way Muslim (…)

• Corporate India and Poverty in Bharat

  27 March 2012, by SC

  The unprecedented Dinesh Goswami episode is over. The Trinamul Congress’ nominee for the post of the Railway Minister, Mukul Roy, a close confidant of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister in charge of the portfolio on March 20 after Dinesh was forced to resign on March 18 due to Mamata’s dogged opposition to his continuance in office—stemming from her annoyance with him for the former Railway Minister’s decision to go for across-the-board passenger fare-hike (that (…)

• Tackling the Israeli Car-bombing Case: Decode the Attack, Dump the Dilemma

  27 March 2012

  TANVI KULKARNI and J. JEGANAATHAN
  Bomb blasts in Delhi may not be shocking news these days but the limpet bomb attack on the Israeli’s Defence Attaché’s vehicle close to the Prime Minister’s residence on February 13, 2012 would have definitely astonished many people. Usually, bomb blasts create a sense of panic and disorder in the locale. But this attack, which is unique in terms of the modus operandi and explosive device used, wantonly generated ripples in diplomatic circles.
  Israel’s (…)

• Union Budget 2012-13 : Missing a Vision

  27 March 2012, by Arun Kumar

  I. Introduction: The Context of ‘Reform’
  The IMF Managing Director commented days after the presentation of the Union Budget 2012-13 that India should have the ‘appetite for change’. Apparently she implied that the Finance Minister should have pushed forward the necessary reforms in policies. She further added that there was need for ‘leadership and consensus’ and this implies a disappointment with the Budget as it was presented. Two points arise. What does she mean by reform and whether (…)