Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Impending Ayodhya Verdict

  28 September 2010, by Rajindar Sachar

  Both the government and the Opposition and the public in general are rightly in panic awaiting the verdict on the Babri Masjid by the Allahabad High Court—a situation brought about by the faltering non-secular stand by all the concerned governments. The High Court is to give verdict on the following points:
  1. Was the place under the Babri Majid the birth-place of Lord Ram?
  2. Was there or not a temple on the land on which the Babri Masjid was built? Now it is obvious to the meanest (…)

• Pakistan and the Idea of “Neutral” Afghanistan

  28 September 2010, by Apratim Mukarji

  In early July this year, former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made a statement which forced many people inside and outside the country to sit up and take notice,
  “Pakistan should abandon this thinking that Pakistan has to keep influence in Afghanistan,” he told Dunya TV. “Neither will they (the Afghans) accept influence, nor should the pro-influence people here (in Pakistan) insist on it.” Continuing his rather stunning “confessional”, he said: “Our policy in the past has failed. (…)

• Relevance of the Telangana Armed Struggle

  28 September 2010, by Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy

  The Telangana armed struggle against Nizam’s autocracy in 1947 was an important historical event as Nizam declared Hyderabad as an independent country in connivance with British imperialism on September 11, 1947. The CPI had given a call asking the people to take up arms against the Nizam of Hyderabad Samsthan and for the merger of Hyderabad into the Indian Union. Comrades Ravi Narayan Reddy, Baddam Yella Reddy and Makhdoom Mohiuddin signed the statement on behalf of the CPI, Andhra (…)

• Karnataka: A Loud Wake-up Call

  28 September 2010, by Sandeep Shastri

  Karnataka was witness to hectic electoral activity in the last few weeks on account of the two by-elections to the State Assembly. These by-elections were held in two different corners of the State. One was held in northern Karnataka and the other in south Karnataka. The results would require all the major political forces in the State to do some serious soul-searching. The incumbent party has lost in both the seats. Does it signifiy anti-incumbency? Not necessarily. The incumbency factor (…)

• Deepening India-US Strategic Ties—Evidences and Repercussions

  28 September 2010, by S G Vombatkere

  It is necessary in today’s world of intimately linked national economies to strengthen and deepen economic and cultural ties between all nations in the interest of peace. This would also be a positive move to effectively combat the scourge of terrorism synergistically. But if economic ties are predicated on “fighting terror” by the use of police and military force and trade in military hardware and software, it would imply that the military-industrial complex (MIC) has an increasing role in (…)

• Maoist Phenomenon and State Response

  28 September 2010, by Amitava Mukherjee

  Now, in the wake of the serious development in Bihar, the time has come for everybody to shed all kinds of factionalism and put all heads together to find a genuine solution to the raging controversy over the Maoist problem that has engulfed a large part of India and is exhibiting the potentialities of vivisection of the country. Sadly, schism and incompetence in dealing with the most raging issue of the time has now reached the topmost level of administration with a deep gorge of difference (…)

• ’Who Is Civilised?’: In Praise of Tribal Traditions, Society, and Culture in India

  28 September 2010, by Arup Maharatna

  There can be little dispute that the socio-cultural norms, practices, and rituals in the mainstream Hindu tradition subsume a deep ideological repugnance towards gender equality. But this contrasts with the country’s overall tribal culture and society. Indeed, the latter, which has for long been exterior to the patently patriarchal and caste-hierarchical Hindu socio-cultural orbit, is traditionally characterised by a high degree of gender equity with its many admirable demographic (…)

• Decentralised Educational Planning in India: A Critique on the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

  28 September 2010, by Lakshmi Narayanan

  Introduction
  The educational development in India is neither homogenous in regional spread nor neutral to social formations. It has a strong bias in favour of economically developed areas with strong infrastructural support and against the backward regions of the country. In spite of planned efforts spread over four decades, regional disparities continue to be glaring. (Moonis Raza and et al. 1990) In this background, the ongoing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mission considers (…)

• Pathways to Bangladesh

  28 September 2010, by Punam Pandey

  Bangladesh depicts a story of two brothers who were sharing a passage and front area of the two houses; a dispute arose between the two families, and overnight a wall measuring 10 feet with gates emerged on the scene. But unlike the neighbourly wall, this wall is manned by security forces and a number of formalities follow before entering into the other’s territory.
  With financial grant constraints, instead of taking airways, I had to undertake a bus route to reach Dhaka. The bus started (…)

• Stakes in Kashmir

  28 September 2010, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  The cordially generated during the Prime Minister’s recent visit to Kashmir has far-reaching significance for Indian politics.
  It is one of the futile by-products of low-level politicking—so widespread in the national scene today—that has led to the deplorable rift between Sheikh Abdullah’s National Conference and the Congress-I. This estrangement, avoidable as well as unnecessary, has not only polluted the political atmosphere in Kashmir but has threatened to touch off a vicious chain (…)