Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Ramanujan’s Three Hundred Ramayanas: Transmission, Interpretation And Dialogue In Indian Traditions

  27 November 2011

  by R. MAHALAKSHMI
  A.K. Ramanujan, while referring to the diversity and apparently contradictory element of unity in the Indian traditions, refers to an Irish joke about whether to classify trousers as singular or plural: singular from the top, plural from the bottom.1 A Concurrent Discipline Course in the University of Delhi for Second Year Honours students not doing History was introduced in 2005 on ‘Culture in India—Ancient’, and had sought to very sensitively juggle the singular/ plural (…)

• On M.A. Jinnah

  27 November 2011, by Ajeet Jawed

  COMMUNICATION
  This in response to Mr Rawal’s letter to the editor (Mainstream, October 29, 2011) regarding my article ‘Pakistan Failed Jinnah’ in Mainstream (September 10, 2011). In this context I would like to draw his attention to the following facts:
  1. It is a proven fact that before changing track in 1940 Jinnah was secular and nationalist. He had joined a secular organisation, Bombay Presidency Association, in 1900, the Indian National Congress in 1904, was the President of the (…)

• Assault on the Founder of Pakistan: The Untold Conspiracy

  27 November 2011

  by NASIM YOUSAF
  (The following article has been sent by the Administrator, http://www.allamamashriqi.com for publication in Mainstream.)
  “… you have no evidence at all that this man [Jinnah’s assailant] is a member of that movement [Khaksar Tehrik]…you have no evidence that he [the culprit] is a member of the movement, still less that he holds any particular position in it.”
  —Justice Blagden Bombay High Court, 1943
  On July 26, 1943, at approximately 1:30 pm, Rafiq Sabir Mazangavi (…)

• Foreign Policy Perspectives and the American Scene

  27 November 2011, by P N Haksar

  November 27 this year marks the thirteenth death anniversary of P.N. Haksar, the eminent administrator and distinguished diplomat as well as one of the country’s foremost thinkers. He was the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and a Member, UN International Civil Service Commission. On this occasion we offer our sincere homage to the abiding memory of that towering personality, a recognised authority on foreign policy, by reproducing the (…)

• Quit Asia!

  27 November 2011, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  The mere fact that President Johnson ordered the halting of bombing of most of North Vietnam and simultaneously announced his decision not to seek re-election to the office wherefrom he has wrought unprecedented havoc, is no doubt seen the world over as a victory not only for the valiant people of Vietnam but for peace-loving peoples in all countries including Johnson’s own.
  But the so-called de-escalation ordered by the US President is not such as to convince the (…)

• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: An Indian Free Thinker

  27 November 2011

  by MIRATUN NAHAR
  Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, known as the father of the Aligarh Movement, was born in a highly respectable family in 1817, the very year in which the Hindu College was established in Calcutta. Sir Syed, in his childhood, did not display any excellent character-trait. Rather, he exemplified the maxim that one could become the man he wanted to be by sheer effort and perseverance. In his youth he was a luxury-loving young man. But after the death of his elder brother he changed (…)

• We Have Several Million ‘Clean’ Leaders; Our Unclean System Keeps Them Out

  27 November 2011, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Here’s a brand new idea aired by our brand new messiah. All clean and non-corrupt politicians must leave their political parties and come together to form a new independent party, says Anna Hazare. It sounds like an old idea.
  Actually the old idea is that there’s need for a new political party. That the good guys in existing parties should quit and form this independent party is a new take.
  This sounds more practical than the idea of a bunch of amateurs forming a party. (…)

• Time to Reset the Reform Agenda

  27 November 2011, by Sanjay Pulipaka

  The intense debate on the Jan Lokpal Bill should not overshadow the multiple approaches that are available to combat corruption and, more importantly, the larger issue of governance reforms in India. India definitely needs an independent authority such as the Lokpal to combat the menace of corruption. Tragically, the debate on the jurisdiction of the Lokpal had a misplaced focus on whether to bring the Prime Minister, legislature and judiciary within the ambit of the Lokpal. In the (…)

• Congress Party and the Irrepressible Mani Shankar Aiyar

  27 November 2011

  by SANJAY MISHRA
  Mani Shankar Aiyar is not new to controversies. Indeed, over the years, he has perfected the art of creating and courting controversies. It is really intriguing to note the absence of diplomacy or, for that matter, euphemism in his verbal attacks, notwith-standing the fact that the better part of his antecedence was occupied by diplomacy. How come a person who has been a career diplomat for about 26 years and who has been in politics for more than two decades be so (…)

• Enriching Existing Literature on Kashmir Politics and Indo-Pak Relations

  27 November 2011

  BOOK REVIEW
  by SAJAD PADDER
  Kashmir: Identity, Autonomy and Self-Rule by Dr Gull Wani; Apple Books, Srinagar; 2011; pages: 218.
  The quest for identity as a basic human urge has received specific academic recognition in the post-modern political thought. In the case of Kashmir, identity has been the most persistent and dominating urge of the people. The book, Kashmir: Identity, Autonomy and Self-Rule, by Dr Gull Wani deals with one of the most crucial problems of the contemporary era: (…)