Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Remembering Aruna Asaf Ali on her 15th Death Anniversary

  1 August 2011

  Fifteen years ago on July 29, 1996 Aruna Asaf Ali, the stormy petrel of the August 1942 ‘Quit India’ movement, had breathed her last. On this occasion, while remembering her we carry the tribute that N.C. wrote after her demise. We are also reproducing a brief poem that one of N.C.’s contemporaries, Som Benegal, a noted journalist and writer, composed after Arunaji’s death. In the following pages we reproduce the interview she gave to S.C. on the golden jubilee of the ‘Quit India’ struggle that appeared in Mainstream’s August 8, 1992 issue

• B.S. Yeddyurappa Must Quit Immediately

  1 August 2011

  The following is a press statement issued by the General Secretary and spokesperson of the Socialist Party of India, Dr Prem Singh, on July 24, 2011.
  The Socialist Party India (SPI) demands the immediate resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa following the charge of his involvement in illegal mining as reported by the Lokayukt Justice Santosh Hegde. Yeddyurappa, who is already facing charges of corruption, should, in fact, resign on his own, failing which he should be (…)

• Rise of Global Terrorism

  1 August 2011

  by SUDHIR HINDWAN
  Condemnation should ring out loud and clear against the serial attacks in Mumbai on July 13 which left more than 15 people dead (according to latest figures, 20) and many injured. The terrorists want to send out a common message about their ability to attack with accuracy at a time and place of their choice. The sites, timing and modus operandi of these attacks expose the level of coordination, execution and obnoxious nexus between the terrorists, locals and outsiders. (…)

• Scientists Speak Against GM Crops

  1 August 2011, by Bharat Dogra

  At a time when the strong lobby for GM crops has escalated its campaign to get more clearances and concessions from the Indian Government, it is extremely important to high-light the fact that many distingushed scientists have not only rejected GM crops in strong terms but in addition, to counter the sinister propa-ganda of the powerful GM lobby, they have even found it to necessary to form panels and groups where they can voice the collective opinion of several eminent scientists aginst the (…)

• Capital, Capitalism: A Step to Socialism of Marx

  1 August 2011, by D P Sen

  ”The whole value of Marxism seems to me to be in its absence of dogmatism, mode of approach and its attitude to action... The success or failure of Russian social experiments does not directly affect the validity of the Marxian theory.” —Jawaharlal Nehru1
  During 1989-91 the USSR and its satellite socialist countries of East Europe collapsed like a house of cards without any resistance either from their peoples, rather with their active support. Machinations of the capitalist world had also (…)

• Fai’s Arrest: Ansari Questions Padgaonkar’s Credibility

  1 August 2011

  by HARI OM
  The United States, which is not a friend of India by any yardstick, has done the needful, doubtless for its own reasons. The arrest of the US citizen and Pakistani Kashmiri agent, Ghulam Nabi Fai, the Director of the American Kashmir Committee (AKC), by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on July 20, has stunned the Anglo-American-Asian world.
  Fai has been living in the United States since 1990. One of the charges levelled against him by the FBI is that he was operating (…)

• ‘Ways and Means to Eradicate Corruption in Public Offices’: A Report

  1 August 2011

  by B.K. PAL
  The fight against corruption is inevitably linked with the fight for human rights as each and every person aspires to live in a corruption-free society on account of being affected by it in one form or the other, said Soli. J. Sorabjee, President of the United Lawyers’ Association (ULA), while presiding over a meeting to discuss “Effective Ways and Means to Eradicate Corruption in Public Offices”, organised by the ULA, at the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi, on July 18, 2011. (…)

• New Deal in Darjeeling Hills

  25 July 2011, by SC

  While Britain has been rocked by the phone-hacking scandal and both media moghul Rupert Murdoch and his son as well as PM David Cameron have been grilled on consecutive days before the House of Commons’ Media Committee, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to India and talks with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna have brought out both the similarities of approach as well as divergences between the two countries on terrorism and nuclear commerce. Hillary did call upon the US’ (…)

• Towards A Rainbow of Anti-Corruption Measures

  25 July 2011, by Bharat Dogra

  Recent proposals prepared by the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) for a rainbow of anti-corruption and grievance redress measures have brought a new hope to India’s anti-corruption agenda. At a time when people were getting confused by huge charts detailing differences of viewpoints, the practical, down-to-earth suggestions made by the NCPRI have brought a strong ‘can-be-done’ sense to an agenda which was getting too divisive to be ‘doable’.
  The NCPRI, which (…)

• Politician versus Civil Society

  25 July 2011

  by M.G. DEVASAHAYAM
  Since a lot of misunderstanding is sought to be generated by large sections of the political class attacking civil society in a bid to denigrate Anna Hazare and his associates waging a courageous anti-corruption campaign aimed at shaping an effective Lokpal Bill, we are reproducing the following article that appeared in The Statesman in the first week of this month.
  A debate is on over the role of civil society and popular movements in influencing government policies (…)