Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• On the Dark Realities facing Us

  20 March 2012, by Humra Quraishi

  Why this growing graph of abandoned-on -the-street children? Why thousands of Falaks? Why hundreds of women who have to sell off their own flesh and blood? Why the naïve get trapped into prostitution and related rackets?
  You don’t have to be an investigative reporter to come to some basic conclusion, as some hard- hitting realities stand right out: C.C. Patil—Karnataka’s Women and Child Welfare Minister—was caught watching porn on a cell-phone with another of his ministerial colleagues, (…)

• Message of the State Assembly Polls

  13 March 2012, by SC

  The results of the elections to the Assemblies of five States that went to the polls recently are out. The voters have given their verdict loud and clear. Except for Uttarakhand where it is still not clear which party would form the next State Government, there is no room for any doubt on this score in the other four States where elections were held.
  Mayawati’s BSP has suffered a decisive defeat in the most populous State of UP with the Samajwadi Party of the veteran war-horse Mulayam (…)

• US Lets Down the Indian Quislings

  13 March 2012, by M K Bhadrakumar

  Why is it that the Pakistanis have got such spunk that our Indian lords lack? Within a day of the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, threatening it might be “destructive” for Pakistan to go ahead with a gas pipeline project with Iran, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar shot back that it is not Uncle Sam’s business which country Pakistan cooperates with or how it defines its national interests. What stunned me is that in the same breath Clinton also commended the Manmohan (…)

• National Sovereignty and the Military

  13 March 2012, by S G Vombatkere

  National sovereignty (meaning “complete power or authority“) is a very important issue: Consider that the word “sovereignty” combined with the word “integrity” occurs several times in the Constitution of India, in the context of law-making, citizens’ fundamental duties, Ministers’ oath of office, and oaths by judges, Members of Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies.
  The Defence Forces of the Union, namely India’s military (Army, Navy and Air Force), are entrusted with the (…)

• Arguing for ‘Multidimensional Approaches’ to the 12 Five Year Plan

  13 March 2012

  by Jos Chathukulam
  I would like to appreciate the Planning Commission for widely recognising the civil society organisations and for providing space for enabling citizens to give suggestions while constructing the Approach Paper for the 12th Five Year Plan. I hope, as it is mentioned in the Draft Approach Paper, the process of consultation will continue till the draft is finalised. Please note my specific remarks and it will be confined to only three areas including overall comments.
  1. (…)

• Illusion versus Reality

  13 March 2012, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings Forty years ago the following editorial appeared in Mainstream (March 4, 1972) dissecting the Shanghai Communique concluded at the and of US President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China. This has a lasting value and is being reproduced for the benefit of our readers.
  After his pilgrimage to Peking, which he pompously claims to have changed the world, Mr Nixon has landed himself in a hornet’s nest in which long-standing allies and stooges are in a state of fear (…)

• Bride Selling: A National Shame

  13 March 2012

  by Saraswati Swain
  Recently a news item on the sale of young girls in the Haryana market was flashed in the The Times of India with a photograph vividly revealing this. This brazen and despicable act is comparable to a cattle mart. A girl’s highest selling price of Rs 1000 is less than that of a cow! This incident coming to the limelight following a survey by a voluntary organisation is not an isolated one. Such events are taking place in many parts of our country even today, that is, (…)

• Paying the Price for being a Woman…

  13 March 2012

  by Anup Sahu
  I am perturbed by the recent increase in sexual and violent crimes against women. What has been more disturbing is the increasing level of brutality in such incidents. Last Friday (February 24), a minor girl was allegedly raped inside a moving car in Noida by five young men. Earlier last month in Kolkata, a 37-year-old woman and a mother of two was allegedly raped at gunpoint. In another ghastly incident, a woman was dragged out of the train near Kolkata and allegedly raped by (…)

• Status of Tribal Women in India

  13 March 2012, by J.J. Roy Burman

  Tribals or adivasis, as they are popularly known as a symbol of self-assertion, comprise of around 8.2 per cent of the national population. The tribals are concentrated mostly in the central belt of India and parts of the North-East. The status of women in the tribal societies is compa-ratively better than that of the women in general society—apparently so. The sex ratio of the tribes in India during 1991 showed 971 females per 1000 males while it was 927 females among the general (…)

• Deliberative Democracy is the Answer

  13 March 2012

  Multiculturalism, Secularism and Politics of Veiling
  by Tamanna Khosla
  Multiculturalism has taken a back-seat in Europe, especially after the London bombings as well as the killing of Theo Van Gogh and the Madrid bombings. The two major countries where multicultural policies are part of the government policies, the United Kingdom and Holland, are putting it into question in its many different aspects. In England, the veil issue has become public and many people are pushing for some (…)