Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Can We Get Back the Black Kohinoor?

  28 June 2011, by S.K. Dutta

  Of late there is a lot of talk on the issue of black money which is stashed in the foreign banks abroad and how to bring it back. Ever since veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani raised this subject in the 2009 Lok Sabha election the issue of black money together with price rise has become like the never-ending quick-sand for UPA-II. In my understanding, the biggest achievements of UPA-II for 2010-11 are price rise and the series of corruption scams; now the black money issue seems to be giving (…)

• Debacle in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal: Misuse of Civil Service for Partisan Interests

  28 June 2011, by P R Dubhashi

  The recent Assembly election results saw a spectacular debacle of two ruling political parties —the DMK in Tamil Nadu and the Leftist alliance led by the Communist Party-Marxist in West Bengal which had been in continuous power over the last thirtyfour years, an unprecedented phenomenon in democracy anywhere.
  The cause of the debacles was the same—misuse of power given in trust by the electorate in the hope that the power will be used in public interest. Both the parties betrayed the (…)

• The Socialist Party (India) Is Formed

  28 June 2011

  DOCUMENT
  TO FIGHT THE NEO-COLONIAL ONSLAUGHT ON INDIAN ECONOMY, POLITY AND CULTURE, AND TO ESTABLISH A SOCIALIST ORDER
  The following is the press release distributed at a press conference in the Capital on June 10, 2011 announcing the formation of the Socialist Party (India).
  Democratic Socialism came up in the debate all over the world due to two events. After the disintegration of Soviet Russia the Communist Parties in many European countries transformed themselves into democratic (…)

• The Formation of the Socialist Party is a Welcome Decision

  28 June 2011, by Rajindar Sachar

  The comrades of the Socialist Front have decided to form the Socialist Party (India) deriving its inspiration from the philosophy, ideology and movement of the Socialist Party formed by socialist stalwarts like Acharya Narendra Dev, JP, Dr Lohia, Yusuf Meharally and others.
  Till the 1990s, the political scene in the country made the citizens believe that there can be only two national parties, the Congress and BJP-Janata combine. People therefore looked askance at every other individual (…)

• Democratise Universities

  28 June 2011

  COMMUNICATION
  It is really disgusting and shocking that in our country, which is the largest parliamentary democracy of the world, there is no tinge of democracy in the highest temples of learning, that is, universities.
  While the holder of the highest office of the country, the President of the Indian Union, can be impeached if he or she misuses his or her powers, judges of the Apex Court and judges of the High Courts can be impeached and Ministers both at the Centre and in the States (…)

• Emergency: What it meant

  28 June 2011

  Lest We Forget
  Thirtyfour years ago on June 26, 1975, Emergency was proclaimed throughout the country as the ruling leadership bared its fangs nakedly displaying its dictatorial proclivities. We present here write-ups and poems that bring back the nightmare of those dark days when our freedom was sought to be snatched away and our voice throttled. —Editor
  by AMIYA RAO, B.G. RAO
  Not a leaf stirs in my kingdom without my leave. See how quiet my people sit. —Atahuallpa the Inca
  To those (…)

• Ay Eye-witness Account

  28 June 2011

  Published in The Morning News—Sunday Times Service (London) on July 3, 1975. An introduction to the article read:
  “An uncensored account from Jonathan Dimbleby who was in Delhi last week for the Thames Televivsion programme: ‘This Week’. He filed his report from Addis Ababa to avoid censorship.”
  This was included in The Press She Could Not Whip: Emergency in India as Reported by the Foreign Press. —Editor
  The famous Indian journalist sat in his silent office surrounded by notes for an (…)

• Symbol of a Heroic Age

  28 June 2011

  REMEMBERING N.C.
  On June 27 this year falls Nikhil Chakravartty’s thirteenth death anniversary. On this occasion we reproduce the following tributes to his abiding memory that were published in Mainstream on July 11, 1998, July 25, 1998 and July 4, 1998 respectively.
  by P.C. JOSHI
  In the passing away of Nikhilda at the ripe age of eightyfour the country has lost the doyen of Indian journalism and a vigilant watchdog of national interest and democratic rights. And the common people have (…)

• Why I was Drawn To Him

  28 June 2011, by Muchkund Dubey

  I am among numerous others who felt being very close to Nikhilda. He had that remarkable quality, to quote Rabindranath Tagore, “of bringing those who are distant closer to him and making others his brother” ¼nwjds djsN vkiu cUèkq] ijds djsN HkkbZ½-I was drawn towards him because of the unbounded personal affection I received from him and because he embodied the qualities I have cherished most in my life. What drew me towards him was his simplicity; his refusal to be impressed by the vulgar (…)

• Envisioning a New South Asia

  28 June 2011

  by MALINI PARTHASARATHY
  In the passing of Nikhil Chakravartty, this country has lost a distinguished member of a diminishing tribe of nationalists who were unabashed about their zeal and pride in being seen as the first generation of citizens of the new Indian republic. That sense of patriotism in the classical sense imbued all Nikhil Chakravartty’s writings even as it made him stand out as a rare spokesman for the highest political values that he strongly desired the Indian state to (…)