Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Declaration of the Athens Conference on Debt and Austerity

  10 July 2011

  The Greek Parliament in Athens on June 29 backed a stinging new austerity plan as demanded by international creditors, something that enraged protesters who fought street battles with the police outside; the latter fired teargas to disperse the crowd but in vain. MPs voted 155 to 138 for the hotly-disputed package aimed at slashing $ 40 billion (that is, 28.4 billion euros) from the balance of government spending by 2015, a plan that would unlock emergency finance from the EU and IMF. (The (…)

• Challenges to Civil Society in India

  10 July 2011

  by Vivek Kumar Srivastava
  In developing societies political parties exercise an influential role. They aim to achieve power and after having achieved it they wish to maintain it by several mechanisms; besides less awareness of the people about the true nature of the democratic system in such societies, there exist limited options to bring the government within a people-centric corruption-free framework.
  In these societies the civil society too exists but in underdeveloped form. The (…)

• Bridging the Divide for Larger Good

  10 July 2011

  COMMUNICATION
  In the divided Bengal of today, the one man who comes in for much use by candidates at the hustings is Rabindranath Tagore. No wonder from their political leaders Bengalis settled in West Bengal have got so used to promises which are not to be kept and statistics which are to be accepted per se. One remembers while one was travelling to Chennai by train many years ago word all on a sudden spread that in Kolkata Mamata Banerjee had been badly hit on the head. The train was (…)

• In Search of Development Alternative

  10 July 2011, by Sunil Roy

  I propose to focus on three sets of issues related to the development perspective especially with reference to countries like India. First, I would like to argue that the dominant development perspective has proved itself irrelevant and extraordinarily sick in practice. It is not necessarily due to it being market-centric, but mainly due to the absence of serious development debates. The development perspective is not static; it evolves over time with new ideas, understanding and insights. (…)

• Repression of Social Activists in Chhattisgarh

  10 July 2011, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  There seems to be no end to the repression of social activists in Chhattisgarh. After the Chhattisgarh administration tried its best to keep Dr Binayak Sen behind bars, now it is the turn of social and environmental activists Ramesh Aggarwal and Harihar Patel to face the wrath of the government. The State Government appears to be extremely intolerant towards sincere activists who try to protect rural livelihoods and environment from the onslaught of those big capitalists who (…)

• Uttar Pradesh: Rise of the Underdog Bahujans

  10 July 2011

  by Narendra Sharma
  The National Programme adopted by the United Progressive Alliance in 2004, together with the Left parties, had provided that its government would persuade the private sector enterprises to provide reservation in employment to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC and ST) workers.
  The UPA Government did come to power in 2004 and also enjoyed the support of the Left parties. The Manmohan Singh Government then seemed conscious of this provision about reservation (…)

• Tribute to Chaturanan Mishra

  10 July 2011

  One of the tallest leaders of the Communist Party in Bihar, Chaturanan Mishra, who was the Union Agriculture Minister in the governments of both H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral in 1996-98, passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi around noon on July 2, 2011. A former President of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), he was ailing for quite sometime but the end came rather suddenly. He was admitted to the AIIMS the previous day and put on a ventilator; (…)

• The Left in India: A Critical Appraisal

  10 July 2011, by Kripa Shankar

  In the pre-independence period, the Communist Party of India had emerged as the main Left party although quite weak but conspicuous by its dedicated cadres who, by their immense sacrifice, had built bases among industrial workers and peasants. Their fight against the feudal elements led to a powerful base among peasantry in many pockets. Communism had an appeal among intellectuals and some top intellectuals were closely associated with the movement. The success of the Soviet Union in turning (…)

• Open Letter from an Old Communist

  10 July 2011

  by T. Venkateswara Rao
  This open letter addressed to CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan and CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat was sent to the Ajoy Bhavan, the CPI headquarters, and the A.K. Gopalan Bhavan, the central CPI-M office, early last month and released in Vijaywawada. An old Communist veteran of Andhra Pradesh, T. Venkateswara Rao was twice elected the Mayor of Vijayawada. He has been a CPI member since 1938.
  Dear Comrade,
  I am an old Indian Communist of 95 years who is (…)

• Debacle of the Left: Five Observations

  10 July 2011, by Pramothes Mukherjee

  The following, according to the author, is a first evaluation of the people’s mandate in the West Bengal Assembly Election 2011.
  It is my first observation that the Left Front lost the battle in 2011 (and) so the Trinamul won the battle. The Trinamul is not a positive alternative to the Left Front. The Trinamul is not a party, but a conglomeration of destitutes from different parties. People did not vote for the Trinamul but they voted against the CPI-M or better to say against the (…)