Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Many Forks of The Devil’s Tongue: Whitewashing Crimes a la the Pracharak Way

  22 August 2010, by Subhash Gatade

  “(Bajrang Dal) uses violence whereever necessary to protect the Hindu..if the snake bites, won’t we strike it down?” —Subhash Chouhan, National Convenor of Bajrang Dal (Indian Express, July 22, 2010)
  “I have known these organisations for a long time and they do not have criminal elements.” —Union Home Minister, while giving a clean chit to Bajrang Dal in the Graham Steins murder case (January 1999)
  I
  Does sorrow come with any date? Perhaps no. Perhaps yes. For Kamal Khan (name changed) (…)

• Changes in the Profile of the Marginalised in Rural India

  22 August 2010, by Namrata Pathak

  BOOK REVIEW
  Dalits in Villages and Poverty Alleviation Policies: 1963-2008 by Gilbert Etienne; Publisher: Institute of Rural Management, Anand, India; 2010.
  At the outset, the name of the publication is a little misleading. While the author begins with the study of Dalits during his early visits, he later diversifies to tribal groups in tribal dominated areas such as Jharkhand and Orissa. Besides, his study is more about the impact of economic growth, the Green Revolution and (…)

• Tribute: The Importance of being Mathew

  22 August 2010, by T J S George

  Being famous is different from being important. The trimurtis of English journalism in India— Pothan Joseph, Frank Moraes, M. Chalapathi Rao —are still unequalled in their star value and brilliance of writing. But historically they mattered little because they introduced no movement that transformed their profession.
  Devdas Gandhi of Hindustan Times and Kasturi Srinivasan of The Hindu were not celebrities, but they were historically important personages because they helped convert (…)

• Census of Political Murders in West Bengal during CPI-M Rule—1977-2009

  22 August 2010, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  One could ask a question whether a heinous crime like murder be classified as “political”. A crime is generally distinguished by the motive behind it. The Oxford Dictionary of Law defines “political offence” in the following manner: “An offence committed for a political purpose or inspired by a political motive. The act could be a combination of a politically motivated but criminally implemented act, or it may be more narrowly political or it may be criminal activity that resulted from an (…)

• Commonwealth Games

  22 August 2010, by Sudhir Vombatkere

  If the articles and TV exposé that are dominating the news channels and dailies are true even to some extent then the very essence of holding the CWG to showcase that “India has Arrived” is an absolute nautanki. Just look around—scandals in training camps, inflated budgets and tenders all involving government agencies and the Organising Committee, sub-standard materials and construction (on visuals) and allegations-cum-counter-allegations (not staged by the Opposition this time) by people (…)

• Caste Census—Let Us Face The Facts!

  22 August 2010, by D.K. Giri

  The plan of caste enumeration has created confusions in many areas of our public life—political, social, ideal, practical, and so on. It has become so contentious that individuals, groups, industries and political parties are all divided. Once again there are vociferous voices on both sides. Even the Union Cabinet could not reach a consensus and has constituted a GoM under the leadership of Congress veteran Pranab Mukherjee. Thinking people are worried that the caste census will plunge the (…)

• Nuclear Energy Path is Suicidal

  22 August 2010, by Sailendra Nath Ghosh

  Mainstream, in its January 26, 2008 issue, published an article by this author, titled “Why the Nuclear Energy Path is Suicidal”. Below we are publishing its sequel which is also a response to some Indian nuclearists’ campaign for nuclear plants and also to the recent Indo-US deal for reprocessing American nuclear spent fuel in India at the cost of this country. —Editor
  At a time when reductionist science holds sway, knowledge systems become fragmented, and scientific-technological (…)

• Wanted: A Measure of Vision

  9 August 2010, by SC

  After price rise (on which finally Parliament was able to have threadbare discussion without voting as the government insisted) the scam relating to the Commonwealth Games (based on the UK money trials brought into focus by a private TV channel) has rocked both the Houses as well as the country at large. On both counts the government has been put on the backfoot by a spirited Opposition which appears to be unified in its bid to corner and isolate the Treasury Benches. As allegations of fraud (…)

• US Trapped by ISI; Advantage Taliban

  9 August 2010, by T J S George

  The leakage of 92,000 secret military intelligence documents is sensational anywhere any time. When the documents pertain to the war against the Taliban-Al-Qaeda, it is also disturbing because it shows (a) that America is in a trap and is unlikely to win this war, and (b) that India is in for trouble, big trouble.
  Let’s not forget that the information now leaked is new only to us, the lay public. To the top echelons of the leadership in America, the facts were known all along. They also (…)

• Abolish Death Penalty

  9 August 2010, by Rajindar Sachar

  The call of former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to the Government of India to hold public consultation on the desirability of retaining death penalty has not received adequate media attention. This is unfortunate because we can no longer play a hide and seek game with the straightforward question of abolition of death penalty.
  Great leaders of the world have voiced their opposition to death penalty. Thus Gandhiji said:
  I do regard death sentence as contrary to ahimsa. Only He takes (…)