Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Battle over the Anti-Violence Bill

  9 June 2011, by John Dayal

  Victims have not forgotten the following brutal tragedies in the life of independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have.
  1984—Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for ‘Operation Bluestar’. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3000 Sikhs—men and boys—were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and the world watched. Very few have been (…)

• Land Acquisition: Government as a Facilitator is the Best Option

  9 June 2011, by Diptendra Raychaudhuri

  When it was almost certain that the governments of the country were to take their hands off from total acquisition of land for a private project, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has started thinking otherwise. The thought went out for hundred per cent acquisition by the government.
  Had this come at the germinal stage of discussion about changes in the colonial Act, it could have resulted in Mamata Banerjee’s face glowering, for she had turned against acquisition by the (…)

• On the Tragic Situation in Sri Lanka

  9 June 2011, by Rajindar Sachar

  The tragic situation of the Sri Lankan Tamils continues to shock the nations on surface. But nothing concrete is being done by the UNO or by India which has a special responsibility in the matter.
  Tragic happenings following the breakdown of ceasefire in Sri Lanka were enquired into by the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, which held its sittings from January 14, 2010 at Dublin, and published its report on January 17, 2010. I was one of the ten members of this panel.
  The Tribunal regretted (…)

• Lohia, Our Contemporary

  9 June 2011, by Ashok Celly

  Voicing his concern over the high incidence of casualties during the recent agitation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, observed that there should be non-lethal ways of dealing with the agitators. When I came across this observation in the papers, I was reminded of socialist leader Dr Lohia’s definite and strong views on police firing. Lohia believed that firing by the police which resulted in loss of lives of innocent and well-meaning citizens could have no place (…)

• Nailing Corruption Is No Cakewalk

  9 June 2011, by Nirmalya Biswas

  There is a growing worldwide recognition that adequate protection to the whistleblower is a precondition for a corruption-free democratic society. Over the years whistleblowers have been found dead in mysterious circumstances in India for exposing corruption. Their gruesome killings haunt our memory with a harsh reminder that they are hardly offered any protection. The concern for their protection caught the attention of the entire nation after the murder of Satyendra Dubey, Manjunath (…)

• US flexes Muscle in the Black Sea

  9 June 2011, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The Black Sea is about to lose its historical exclusivity as a Russian-Turkish preserve. A visit by the USA-TRANSCOM commander General Duncan McNabb to Bucharest has sealed the fate of the Black Sea as the latest entry into the chronicles of the “new great game”.
  The US had requested to use Romania’s two military infrastructures as transit place for the carriage of troops and military hardware to and from Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe. On May 2, Romania’s Supreme Council for National (…)

• China: Who’s Counter-revolutionary?

  9 June 2011, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  June 4, 2011 marks the twentysecond anniversary of the massacre of countless students and youth at Beijing’s famous Tiananmen Square. On this occasion we are reproducing the following piece by N.C. written in July 1989.
  Sometime ago, I was attending an interesting discussion on the subject of a national alternative. The discussion concentrated largely on the basic approach to the malaise of the present order, and was bereft of the excitement of a Rajiv-versus-V.P. (…)

• Impact of Globalisation on the Poor in USA

  9 June 2011, by Mathew Aerthayil

  A COMPARISON BETWEEN ‘REAGANOMICS’ AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME IN INDIA
  Globalisation is an international phenomenon which has swept through every country in the world. But its impact has been varied among countries. Most of the developing countries experienced more of its negative impact than the positive effects. The United States of America (USA), which was the main force behind the process of globalisation, had also experienced its impact. The objective of this article is to (…)

• Science and Religion: Must the two Never Meet?

  9 June 2011

  by FRANCIS GONSALVES
  Pushpa M. Bhargava’s article in Mainstream (March 24, 2011, pp. 21-22) entitled “Miracles or Hoax by the Clergy?” made interesting reading. While his critique against miracles—specifically, the manipulation and marketing of them by the clergy—is relevant and acceptable, some of the points he raises are neither backed by solid facts nor sound reasoning. Hence, it seems that Bhargava throws out the baby with the bathwater and appears as dogmatic and irrational about his (…)

• An Open Letter to Ms Mamata Banerjee

  9 June 2011

  by SAMUDRA GUPTA
  Dear Ms Mamata Banerjee,
  At the outset, congratulations. Your relentless struggle and determination with about half-a-dozen of committed followers have derailed the juggernaut of the Left. But, you may not have time for unsolicited advice from a non-entity like yours truly. Nevertheless here are a few:
  1. You are at the moment surrounded by rank opportunists, many of them will leave you the day they find a bandwagon more spacious and prospective. Ex-Congressmen (you (…)