Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• CPM Abrogated the Regime of People’s Rights

  28 March 2011, by Barun Das Gupta

  In a recent article, eminent economist and CPI-M ideologue Prabhat Patnaik has contended that Nandigram and Singur were just “tragic episodes” that “do not represent an iota of shift on the part of the Left to any alternative, abridged, regime of rights”. (Italics in original) He also asserts that “the Left, in short, is the only consistent force that works in the direction of carrying forward the long democratic revolution in our country. The Left is different from all of them because it (…)

• Bihar: Triumphant Truncated Area Development

  28 March 2011, by J. George

  The following article was written quite sometime back but could not be used earlier for unavoidable reasons. It is being published here as its contents remain valid even now.
  The jury of the people in Bihar has given the verdict for truncated development. This development template constitutes road infrastructure, bicycles to school-going girls and conditional cash transfer on certain social development entities. The operational and linking magical password to accessibility to this edited (…)

• The battle shall go on...

  28 March 2011

  On March 26 this year we are observing the fortieth anniversary of the Bangladesh liberation struggle that was launched on that day in 1971 when the Pakistan Army began massive repression on the people of East Pakistan. To mark the occasion we are reproducing the following poem by a participant in the Bangladesh liberation struggle. It was published in Mainstream (April 10, 1971).
  by Sikandar Abu Jafar
  The battle shall go on—
  Our battle, the people’s battle,
  this battle shall go on! (…)

• Japan ravaged by Disaster, UPA by Wikibomb

  19 March 2011, by SC

  The offshore earthquake (measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, one of the largest ever recorded) near Japan’s eastern coast last Friday, March 11, 2011—that unleashed a ferocious tsunami slamming the coastal areas in the east, killing countless people while sweeping away boats, cars and homes and causing widespread fires burning out of control—has brought untold misery in that highly developed nation always prepared for natural and manmade disasters. But what is of more serious concern and (…)

• The Grave Risks of Nuclear Energy

  19 March 2011, by Shree Shankar Sharan

  The sudden danger of nuclear radiation or explosion in Japan due to the damages caused by the tsunami to several, at least three, of its reactors in a nuclear power plant should ring the alarm bells in India, the northern half of which is in the seismic zone and the southern half in the tsunami-prone zone, specially the part of the south which is in the industrially advanced area and equipped with required infrastructure. Nor is the south free from the risk of earthquakes, going by the the (…)

• Fukushima Nuclear Accident — Sobering Reflections

  19 March 2011, by S G Vombatkere

  The tsunami-triggered accident in Fukushima (Japan) Daiichi plant’s Unit 1 (operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO) brings safety issues into question regarding the operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs). In the Daiichi NPP, the automatic shutting down of the reactor by stopping the controlled nuclear fission process, did occur as designed. However, the reactor did not cool down as fast as it was expected and required to do, and called for activating the emergency coolant (…)

• Fourth Estate or Fifth Column?

  19 March 2011, by N A Karim

  The recent revelations of the role that a section of our press plays raises serious doubts whether Edmund Burke’s Fourth Estate has become Earnest Hemingway’s Fifth Column in the country.
  It was Edmund Burke, the eighteenth century Whig politician and renowned British parliamen-tarian, who used the term Fourth Estate for the first time to denote the realm of the press. During the course of a speech in Parliament he termed the Lords Spiritual (Clergy) as the First Estate of the realm, the (…)

• Reject French Reactors for Jaitapur

  19 March 2011, by A Gopalkrishnan

  The Jaitapur nuclear power project has become a matter of intense discussion all over the country because of the displacement of a large number of the people in the Konkan area; there are also several questions challenging the different nuclear projects of the government. This discussion now involves the nuclear agreements signed by the UPA Government with the US as well as with the French Government for installation of nuclear plants at Jaitapur and other locations. We are reproducing the (…)

• Libya puts China in World Stage Spotlight

  19 March 2011, by M K Bhadrakumar

  This article was written sometime early this month, but its contents remain valid even now. Hence it is being reproduced from Asia Times for the benefit of our readers.
  Launcelot Gobbo told his elderly father in a poignant moment in William Shakespeare’s play Merchant of Venice, “Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long.” But the tragedy of life is often that by the time “truth is out”, Gobbo would have become sand-blind and would no more be able to see his son.
  For the (…)

• Fishermen Issue between India and Sri Lanka

  19 March 2011, by Gurnam Chand

  Abstract
  In the post LTTE-era the fishing rights of Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen have become a major issue between India and Sri Lanka. Despite the existence of various agreements and elaborate understanding, the fishermen issue has trigged unexpected worry in the excellent relations between the two countries. The main problem in the fishing rights in the Palk Bay is that of the conflict between the laws of the sea and traditional fishing rights. The Tamil Nadu fishermen even today (…)