Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Kashmir in My Heart on Eid Morning

  28 September 2010, by Humra Quraishi

  This Eid morning I took out that dried chinar leaf which lay tucked in one of the two volumes on Kashmir—‘Kashir’—by Kashmiri historian G.M.D. Sufi. I clasped it gently, with nostalgia overpowering, as I sat visualising the extent of sorrow and anger that seems spreading all over the Valley. Killings of innocents, of young school-going teenagers. Even this week as the Valley is going through the worst possible crisis, we in New Delhi seem so far away from the realities, and third-class (…)

• Options we have; have we the Will?

  28 September 2010, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Another war with India is unlikely to be on China’s agenda. But menacing military build-up and other needling tactics to divert India’s energies and attention is central to its agenda. It’s an old ploy. But the level of aggressiveness is new.
  India’s politicians, the TV channels in particular, have a way of reacting to such unfriendly actions in an emotional, high-decibel style. Which is reminiscent of the Nehru-era cries like “we won’t let them get one inch of Indian (…)

• From ‘Rajniti’ to ‘Lokniti’: Scanning The Works Of Gandhi, M.N. Roy And JP

  28 September 2010, by Bhaskar Sur

  BOOK REVIEW
  Power to the People, Vols. I and II by R.M. Pal and Meera Verma (eds.); Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi; 2007; Rs 1800.
  It is a paradox of history that democracy (literally the rule of the people) has so often ended up becoming a camouflaged rule of the power elite at the expense of ‘demos’. Liberal democracy, that flourished in the 19th century, failed to meet the demands of an impoverished working class and it came to be seen as a facade for class rule. This democracy (…)

• Cause for Alarm

  20 September 2010, by SC

  On September 9 Congress chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who has just been ‘re-elected’ as the party President, made certain valuable observations. She said that while land was needed to build industry, the “land acquisition must be done in a manner that does not result in the loss of large tracts of fertile and productive agricultural land so indispensable to grow foodgrains and feed people.” She further opined that environmental concerns cannot be rejected offhand. She also opined (…)

• Shame! Shame!

  20 September 2010, by P K Chatterjee

  In a parliamentary democracy, the most important institution through which the supremacy of the people is expressed and enforced is Parliament. The Members of Parliament are there only in representative capacity as trustees of the people. Gandhiji said:
  …..If they do not become trustees of their own accord, force of circumstances will compel the reform, unless they court utter disaster.
  He further said “…Public opinion will do what violence can never do.” What Gandhiji said is probably (…)

• Open Letter to the PM

  20 September 2010, by Shree Shankar Sharan

  Respected Prime Minister,
  In a landmark ruling from the viewpoint of the poor, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has directed that surplus foodgrains without proper storage should be distributed among the poor rather than be allowed to rot. The Government of India is reported to be unwilling to abide by the ruling maybe because it is not on all fours with the Bill of right to food in which there is provision only for cheap grains, not free grain. There is a provision in the Natural Calamities (…)

• Deceptive US Initiatives for Palestinians and Threats to International Relations

  20 September 2010, by Arshi Khan

  There have been various phases in the history of international relations which signify the changing pattern of the behaviour, policies and actions of some political units resulting in creating a kind of balance and expectations for a better future. Such dynamism does ensure, if not guarantee, a great chance for peace in the chaotic situation of the the contemporary world order. On the other hand, there are few actors whose policies, actions and designs certainly threaten the teleological (…)

• Unity to Partition: A Sad Saga of the Subcontinent

  20 September 2010, by Ajeet Jawed

  September 11 happened to be the sixtysecond death anniversary of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the architect and founder of Pakistan. We are belatedly carrying the following article while remembering him.
  September 11 marked the death anniversary of M.A. Jinnah, the Father of the nation of Pakistan, which came into existence on August 14, 1947. In 1937 the Muslim League, under Jinnah’s leadership, had declared the complete independence of India as its goal and had also expressed its willingness to (…)

• Disgrace in the Name of Sports

  20 September 2010, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Miracles happen, so the Commonwealth Games may take place without some stadium roof collapsing. But that is not the issue. What we should really be worried about is: How do dunderheads, frauds and double-dealing fixers come to represent this great country? How do humbuggers, thimbleriggers and pettifogging pretenders get the power to humiliate us before the world?
  It is possible to see thugs in leadership positions when the government itself loses its legitimacy and is (…)

• Winter Games Scandal

  20 September 2010, by Harish Chandola

  The South Asian Winter Games, which were to be held in Auli in Uttarakhand in 2008, have not been held due to lack of preparations and irregularities. However, about Rs 200 crores (Rs 110 crores allotted by the Union Government), have already been spent on the preparations, which, three years later, are still incomplete. The Games are now scheduled to be held this winter, in December, which also seems unlikely, in view of the conditions on the ground.
  It is not only the Commonwealth Games (…)