Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Commonwealth Games: The Pettiness of Eminence

  9 August 2010, by Mani Shankar Aiyar

  (The following piece appeared in Crest sometime ago. Thereafter it was published in The Other Side and other publications. In view of the latest controversy surrounding the Commonwealth Games and the significance of the contents of the former Union Sports Minister’s article we are reproducing it with the author’s consent and due acknowledgement. —Editor)
  Holding the 10-day, Rs 20,000 crore-jamboree reflects a misplaced sense of pride and distortion of national priorities. If not on (…)

• Communists and ‘Quit India’ Struggle

  9 August 2010, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  This was the week, fiftytwo years ago, that marked the parting of ways between the Communists and the Congress. It was the Communist opposition to the ‘Quit India’ resolution at the historic AICC session in August 1942 that ultimately led to the expulsion of the Communists from the Congress organisations in 1946. Incidentally, the eviction of the Communists from the Congress marked the beginning of the process of transformation of the Congress from an all-embracing (…)

• FDI in Retail Trade: Hurting People Where it Hurts them Most

  9 August 2010, by Kamal Nayan Kabra

  The discussion paper of the government on FDI in retail trade in India shows that the most important single factor cited in support of permitting FDI in retail trade is the assumed prospect of attracting large and much needed investment in back-end services for value chains and other facilities to reduce post-harvest losses to the farm sector such as cold storages and thus add to total availability of farm goods. Assuming that these investments do take place (by no means a certainty) who (…)

• Are we Missing the ‘Moral’ of the Economy?

  9 August 2010, by Shyam Singh

  There is a common but important debate among the development practicenors and academicians about which ideological baggage is conducive to development in Third World economies like India. In such debates we always find a majority which principally favours democracy as the best political system and a way of governance to achieve the developmental goals with a higher rate of equity and equality. This abstract position has been practically shaped either by the idea of ‘state socialism’ or with (…)

• Manipur: Reactions to Nandita Haksar’s Article

  9 August 2010

  In our issue of June 19, 2010 we published an article by Ms Nandita Haksar entitled ’Constitutional Crisis in Manipur’. The article was reproduced in many papers and websites in the North-East and has generated a lively debate. We have also received some responses directly. We are reproducing some extracts from various points of view so that our readers may get a feel of the volatile situation in Manipur. —Editor
  The gravity of the situation in Manipur is not in doubt as is clear from the (…)

• Vijayagallu—A Rare Event In Troubled Times : People Celebrate a Victory

  9 August 2010, by S G Vombatkere

  In present times, barring ritual voting in elections, the will of We the People of the Republic of India rarely receives recognition. A people’s victory is rarer still in today’s dispensation by Central or State governments which are imposing on the people, a pattern of development that is increasingly being questioned. Thus, people’s victories, howsoever small or fleeting, need to be made known so that others who struggle to assert their rights may take courage and perhaps adapt the methods (…)

• Is Politics being Redefined between States and Peoples?

  9 August 2010, by Rakesh Gupta

  The US-Russian spy swap in Vienna a few days ago, the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, observed, represents pragmatism and some long- term interests in Russian foreign policy towards the US. This nearly coincided with the Indian arrest of a Russian diplomat who overstayed in the country. The Chinese prevailed upon the world to not condemn North Korea over its sinking of the South Korean ship and are pursuing their longstanding policy of developing nuclear relations with Pakistan. This happened (…)

• Ban Communal Bodies Involved In Terrorist Activities

  9 August 2010

  COMMUNICATION
  When bomb blasts occur anywhere in the country, the pet theory immediately put forward by both the law enforcing and investigating agencies and the media is that Muslim terrorists are behind these unpardonable crimes. And on this count a number of Muslim youths have been arrested on grounds of suspicion and most of them are still awaiting their trials. This is in addition to the highly excessive inhuman torture which they are facing in jails.
  But now, as a result of (…)

• Impact of Upper House Election Results on Japan’s Political Future

  9 August 2010, by Rajaram Panda

  The ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) faced a stinging setback in the Upper House election held on July 11, 2010. The Japanese voters were disappointed with the party’s apparent inability to deliver on promises to revamp Japan’s “sclerotic postwar order”.1 This will negate the efforts that Prime Minister Kan Naoto has to put the economy in shape. In a strong rebuke to the Kan Government, the voters deprived the DPJ and its tiny ally of a majority less than a year after the DPJ swept to (…)

• Nuclear Fuel and Emerging Dynamics of Indo-Kazakh Relations

  9 August 2010, by Deepti Srivastava

  The bond of friendliness between India and Kazakhstan as prominent members of their respective regions as well as the comity of world nations has gained a new fillip in recent times. Kazakhstan’s rise as an independent nation-state was a significant event in international affairs, and it was readily accorded recognition by India. This led to a formal beginning of relations between India and Kazakhstan. Now the two countries have been exploring various diversified fields of cooperation for (…)