Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Tribute to LC Jain

  24 November 2010, by SC

  Noted Gandhian and indefatigable crusader for upliftment of the poor L.C. Jain, 85, passed away in New Delhi on Sunday, November 14, after a courageous battle against cancer. Survived by his wife, Devaki, a well-known social activist, and his sons, Gopal, an advocate, and Sreenivasan, a TV journalist, Lakshmi Chand Jain was an erstwhile High Commissioner to South Africa and a former member of the Planning Commission (1989-90). He also received the Magsaysay Award in 1988 for “his informed (…)

• Embrace Fidel Castro: Historic Opportunity For Obama

  24 November 2010, by L C Jain

  Imagine Barack Obama inviting Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader, to his inauguration ceremony. That will make history. With that one act, Obama, as the resident of the White House, can bring radical transformation in the relationship between the US and Cuba.

• How MGNREGA Is Being Undermined

  24 November 2010, by Aruna Roy

  Despite its seminal success in beginning a process of addressing issues of poverty, star-vation and empowering the poor, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) needed a general election to breathe life into it. However, the disproportionate influence of the middle class on social sector policy has led to the same set of pre-election prejudices resurfacing.
  “What use is the MGNREGA to the economy at large?” asks the businessman, one eye fixed apprehensively on (…)

• New Life of Freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi

  24 November 2010

  [In this brilliant write-up, a noted scholar, author and classmate of Aung San Suu Kyi recalls her past association with Burma’s iconic symbol of the ongoing struggle for democracy while narrating the latter’s extraordinary battle against the world’s most ruthless military dictatorship, and raises a pertinent query: how will Suu, now that she is free (at least for the present), “react to the consistent pusillanimity of a country that was not only her childhood home, but is also Burma’s (…)

• China: Some Challenges and Issues

  24 November 2010, by Gilbert Etienne

  Let us first reject the latest fad,“The Beijing Consensus”, created in 2004 by J.C. Ramo (Foreign Policy Centre, London, May 2004), a kind of opposition to “the Washington Consensus” which favoured the neo-liberal theses in the 1990s. Though not promoted by the Chinese, the new consensus refers to the development model of China for developing countries.
  In fact, the achievements of China since 1978 do not constitute “a model” or a recipe that is transferrable. They are due to the (…)

• Local Body Polls 2010 in Kerala

  24 November 2010

  by M.R. Biju
  Articles 243 E and 243 U of the Constitution of India deal with the question of dura¬tion of Panchayats and Municipalities and pe¬riodicity of elections to the rural and urban local bodies. It is stated therein: “Every Panchayat/Municipality unless sooner dissolved under any law for the time being in force shall continue for five years from the appointed date of its first meeting and no longer.” This constitu¬tional provision also prohibits any dissolution of a (…)

• Callous Handling of Refugees and Migrants by India

  24 November 2010

  by Ravi Hemadri
  The recent case of deportation of 47 suspected Bangladeshis from Ahmedabad and the questions the Gujarat High Court asked the State Govern-ment to answer shows the continuing ambiguity in the country with regard to the rights of refugees and transnational migrants. Last year the Gujarat Police arrested 75 persons suspected to be Bangladeshi migrants and deported 47 of them in two batches in November 2009 and January 2010. In a petition filed by the Jansan-gharsh Morcha it (…)

• German link in the European Terror Plot

  24 November 2010

  by Siddharth Ramana
  In late September 2010, the United States issued a travel advisory for its citizens warning against travel to European cities. This occurred in the backdrop of a high terror alert across the European countries of France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom; all these countries are known allies of the United States and are battling domestic Islamic radicalisation. This commentary focuses on one aspect of the European terror plot—the role of Germans in global jihad. (…)

• Looking beyond the Summit

  24 November 2010, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  Summit meetings are not boxing rings which the public watch to cheer or boo at the players punching at each other. Most of the summits are meant for serious business either to thrash out differences or haggle over a coveted prize.
  Judging by this criterion, the Prime Minister of India’s summit with the President of the USA at Washington (May 19, 1994) could be regarded as useful as they noted in clear terms the points of difference on some of the major issues not so (…)

• India Promotes what the World Shuns

  24 November 2010, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  So everything went off well. Obamaji was nice, Michelleji was nicer, and the kababs at Rashtrapati Bhavan were nicest. A good time was had by all. Now, what about the fine print?
  We can ignore Obama’s pitch that India must stand up for democracy and human rights in Burma and Iran. We can do a pahle aap number here and wait for the US to first stand up for democracy and human rights in Saudi Arabia. We can also more or less ignore the India-US strategic partnership for “East (…)