Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The People are Not Always Right

  31 January 2012, by Lalit Uniyal

  The people are not always right, even though they usually are.
  i. Socrates was sentenced to death in a direct democracy by popular vote in a popular jury. He was the greatest man Athens ever produced and was unquestionably one of the noblest men of all time.
  ii. Similarly, the Treaty of Versailles was a link in the chain of events that led to the decline of the great civilisation of Europe, indeed its near-destruction. Yet that insane Treaty was made under pressure of public opinion in (…)

• Restore Indo-Pak Friendship, Fight Global Hegemonism, Support Peoples’ Resistance

  31 January 2012

  DOCUMENT
  ALLAHABAD DECLARATION OF EIGHTH JOINT CONVENTION OF PIPFPD
  The following is the Declaration adopted at the conclusion of the Eighth Joint Convention of Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) held in Allahabad (December 29-31, 2011). More than 190 delegates from Pakistan attended the Convention.
  We, the delegates of the Eighth Joint Convention of the Pakistan ‘India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), held in Allahabad from December 29 to (…)

• Muslim Demand for Political Empowerment

  31 January 2012, by Syed Shahabuddin

  My purpose of this article is not to scratch the countless wounds, received since independence, nor to recite old grievances, but basically a fresh endeavour to achieve social justice in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and to make a new beginning.
  Introduction
  SOCIAL JUSTICE has many aspects including sharing power, due benefits for every social group in the development that the country is making, part-nership in governance and thus in the utilisation of its natural (…)

• Nixon’s Tattered Flag

  31 January 2012, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  [More than forty years ago N.C. wrote the following piece just before Bangladesh’s liberation from west Pakistan’s oppressive and exploitative yoke and it was published in Mainstream (December 18, 1971). Immediately after that country’s independence. We are reproducing it as it is of inestimable value in the present context.]
  Professor Galbraith in his journal narrates an experience as the US Ambassador in this country: “One man asked if there were still a Dulles (…)

• Whither CPI-M?

  31 January 2012

  TRIBUTE On December 28, 2011 passed away in Kolkata veteran Marxist ideologue and noted CPI intellectual Professor Narahari Kaviraj, 95. He was born on February 17, 1917 at Nabadwip in West Bengal’s Nadia district in a family of scholars. He is survived by his only son, Sudipta, an internationally renowned scholar and political scientist, currently holding the departmental Chair at Columbia University’s Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department.
  In his academic life (…)

• ’Jana Gana Mana’ at 100

  31 January 2012

  by JAYAN P.A.
  ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is the national anthem of India. The national anthem was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress (INC) on December 27, 1911. But at that time it was sung under the title, Bharata Bidhata. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was officially adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the Indian national anthem on January 24, 1950. Now, India’s national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is celebrating its centenary.
  This is truly a rare occasion for every Indian who (…)

• A Brave Pilot Navigating a Tortuous Journey

  31 January 2012, by Sumanta Banerjee

  BOOK REVIEW
  Yadon Se Rachi Jatra: Bikalp Ki Talash by Puran Chandra Joshi; Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi; 2009; pages: 247; Rs 325.
  This is a collection of essays by an eminent academic who narrates his political journey from the euphoric days of the 1940-50 period (when the Soviet Union was the beacon for those who believed in a socialist future), through the phases of disillusionment following the disclosures of Stalin’s atrocities, the hopes of renewal under Khrushchev and Gorbachev, (…)

• Multiculturalism Trumps Feminism: The Case of India

  31 January 2012

  by TAMANNA KHOSLA
  Most democratic states in contemporary times are multicultural in nature. Multi-culturalism advocates the need for recognising cultural diversity and accordingly granting rights to cultural minorities. Thus living with difference has become the new age mantra. Feminists too have close affinity with the politics of difference and therefore empathise with multiculturalists. They have hence made claims for another oppressed section, that is, women. Multiculturalists and (…)

• Beyond Bengal: The Genius of Rabindranath Tagore

  31 January 2012, by Balmiki Prasad Singh

  The world is celebrating the 150th birth aniver-sary of Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore’s creative genius found expression in poetry, novels, short-stories, plays, paintings and essays. In the history of Indian literature, he forms a trinity along with Sanskrit poet and playwright Kalidas and Hindi poet and philosopher Goswami Tulsidas.
  The Bengali personality bears the impact of the genius of Rabindranath and he occupies a place of prominence in their homes. Rabindranath, however, has a (…)

• A Dam in Danger and Damned Delay in Settling a Simple Dispute

  31 January 2012, by N A Karim

  THE CENTRE AND TWO STATES ARE EQUALLY RESPONSIBLE
  The Mullaperiyar Dam in Kerala built on river Periyar 116 years ago using the then available construction materials and technology has become a matter of raucous controversy between the two contiguous States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. When the dam was built, its life was determined as 40 years. It was built at the initiative of the then composite Madras province for water for the five districts of the province administered by the paramount (…)