Mainstream Weekly

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• May Day 2011 - Commemorating 125 Years of Workers’ Uprising in Chicago

  3 May 2011, by Nirmalya Biswas

  It all happened on a Saturday; 125 years have passed since then. In those days people had to work for ten to twelve hours a day. But on that Saturday they broke the rule. They set aside their fear and strife, and left work. With an indomitable spirit they dared to raise their voice and make a start. Together they dreamt to change the world. “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for what we will”1 was what they decided as something non-negotiable. Workers in thousands (…)

• Danger Signal of Degeneration

  3 May 2011, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  As elections to the West Bengal Assembly are in full swing we are reproducing the following article of N.C. and the letters related to this piece for the benefit of our readers.
  I write these lines after a fortnight has passed since that shocking incident took place in a suburb of the city of Calcutta. Three women and their driver returning from duty assigned by the government’s Health Department were detained by a gang of ruffians, their belongings looted, their van (…)

• Bantala and After

  3 May 2011

  The following is the text of the letter received by the Editor, Mainstream, from the Minister of Information and Culture, Government of West Bengal, and the Editor’s reply.
  West Bengal Minister’s Letter
  MINISTER
  Information & Cultural Affairs, Local Government, Urban & Metropolitan Development Departments,
  Government of West Bengal
  D. O. N. 401/M/90
  Calcutta, the 30th June, 1990
  Dear Shri Chakravarty,
  Kindly refer to your eassay, “Danger Signal of Degeneration” (…)

• What is the RSS?

  3 May 2011

  May 1 marks the 34th anniversary of the foundation of the Janata Party and also the 89th birth anniversary of the renowned socialist leader, Madhu Limaye (1922-1995), who left a deep impress on Indian polity by his selfless service and effective intervention as a politician, an ideologue and a parliamentarian. He wrote extensively in this journal. While remembering him, we are reproducing the following piece he wrote after the Janata Party split in 1979; it was published in the Hindi weekly, (…)

• Global Leadership And Global Systemic Issues — part II | Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Branislav Gosovic

  3 May 2011

  GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND GLOBAL SYSTEMIC ISSUES
  South, North and the United Nations in a 21st Century World - II
  by Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Branislav Gosovic
  The following is the second part of a lengthy article being published here in three parts. The first part appeared in Mainstream (April 23, 2011). The next part will be carried in the following issue. —Editor
  6. The United Nations of the Future—boosting its Capacities for Global Leadership roles
  A vigorous, strong, fully (…)

• Whither NMML?

  3 May 2011, by Arjun Dev, Bipan Chandra, Satish Chandra

  It is a matter of concern and disquiet that despite widespread protests the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) governors (Karan Singh is the current Chairman of its Executive Council) are pushing through changes in the institution in a manner that could harm it irrevocably. While it takes vision to build an institution, careless handling and failure to maintain essential norms can lead to rapid decline.
  Founded in the mid-1960s as the national memorial to Jawaharlal Nehru, it is (…)

• Wiping Out The Nehruvian Legacy

  3 May 2011, by Girish Mishra

  Ever since Jawaharlal Nehru’s entry into Indian politics, there have been continuous attacks not only on his ideas and outlook but also on his personal and private life. This campaign still continues even 47 years after his departure from this world. This is because of his outlook and thinking.
  As is obvious from his writings and speeches, despite divisions of caste, religion, language, region, living style and so on, India had been one and its first priority was to liberate itself from (…)

• Cause for Optimism

  25 April 2011, by SC

  The multi-phase elections for the West Bengal Assembly have begun with Trinamul Congress chief and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee holding massive rallies across the State, especially in South Bengal, whereas Congress President Sonia Gandhi, PM Manmohan Singh have joined Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in launching the election campaign in right earnest appealing to the electorate to vote for the TMC-Congress alliance that is all set to wrest power from the CPM-led Left Front. Even (…)

• Obama’s Audacity of Doom

  25 April 2011, by N A Karim

  It is indeed a strange spectacle of a Nobel Peace Laureate, President Barack Obama, blithely marching through three major warfields—one he inherited from his predecessor, the other inherited, all right, but modified and renewed as his own, and the third one entirely of his own making. True, several Nobel Peace Prize winners had received this coveted world prize with their blood-stained hands while it bypassed the universally acclaimed apostles of peace. This is the irony of the human (…)

• Corruption a Mere Symptom: The Disease is Unbridled Greed

  25 April 2011, by Kobad Ghandy

  This is another article sent by the Maoist leader, Kobad Ghandy, from Tihar Jail No. 3 (where he is currently lodged) for publication in Mainstream.
  The IPL scam, the CWG scam, the 2G spectrum scam, the foodgrain/BPL/NREGA scams, Adarsh housing scam, the Satna land scam, the Citibank scam, the insurance scam, the P.J. Thomas/palmolein scam, the Yediyurappa land scams, the Prasar Bharati scam, Balakrishnan/NHRC chairman scam, the IMA Modi scam—the list is endless and growing by the day. (…)