Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Uneasy Sits the Global Balance

  20 June 2010, by Rakesh Gupta

  Whoever said that unipolarity assures peace and eternity? The global economy went into a huddle for real estate failure allowing the millions to turn violent on social issues in Western capital. Daniel Harvey, the reputed economist, suggested a revolution in economic policies away from the current unproductive real estate investments. The current policies do not contribute to happiness of the millions. It is only adding to the feel good factor of the middle and upper classes from Beijing and (…)

• Prostitution in Colonial India

  20 June 2010, by Sudhanshu Bhandari

  Introduction
  The prostitute has over the ages never been explicitly defined, but commonly any woman, who for the sake of monetary consideration or any other gainful remuneration, sells her body is regarded as such. Throughout the history of human society, the much reviled whore has been deprecated as a sinner, immoral, a repository of diseases, a profaner of religion, whose companionship should be shunned by the civilised, moral, virtuous and married man. Her synonyms are varied: harlot, (…)

• Kyrgyzstan: Ethnic Genocide and Politics of Revenge

  20 June 2010, by Anuradha M. Chenoy

  There has been large scale ethnic killing of minority Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan’s Osh region, which is on the border of Uzbekistan and home to several minorities. Over a hundred people, mostly belonging to the Uzbek minority, have been killed; thousands, including women, children, foreign students, injured; thousands have had to flee their homes in the face of threats, revealing the barbarity of the attackers. This is a clear attempt at ethnic cleansing. This is not the first time that (…)

• India-Pakistan-Afghanistan: The Path Ahead

  20 June 2010, by Nirupama Rao

  It is a truth universally acknowledged that India, Pakistan and Afghanistan share bonds and linkages that transcend the immediacy of the present. Often, we are also treated to the refrain that India-Pakistan issues have impeded the collective progress of the region. There are those who maintain that for peace and stability in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan should resolve all their differences. The complexities in such equations are not resolvable through the application of simple formulae, (…)

• Prof B.B. Sarkar is no More

  20 June 2010

  Bibek Brata Sarkar died on May 16, 2010 in Delhi, aged 75. A teacher of Political Science, he had lectured at Ramjas College (1963-64), Dyal Singh College (Evening) (1963-64), Kirori Mal College (1964-83), and then in the Department of Political Science (1983-99)—all in the University of Delhi. He retired as a Professor in 1999.
  Known for his teaching of and abiding interest in Western Political Thought and Liberal Political Theory, his long-held belief was that it was possible to (…)

• Karzai’s Move in Afghan Parliamentary Poll

  20 June 2010, by Mansoor Ali

  From the beginning of this year President Hamid Karzai has been pursuing an active policy of preparing for the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan with the objective of bringing the Pathan majority to power. At the same time the Karzai policy aims at weakening the mujahideen influence in the country. For that purpose he is insisting on the approval of a law wherein the members of the Election Commission come under the control of the President’s office alone. The relevant Bill was (…)

• After the ‘Judicial Tragedy’ in Bhopal

  14 June 2010, by SC

  A friend of ours sent this SMS message late on June 7 following the judgment of a local court in Bhopal on the world’s worst industrial disaster that happened in the night of December 2-3, 1984: “The Bhopal verdict proves the Indian state—government, poll parties and judiciary—is slave of global capital. If Bhopal victims now take up arms, they’ll surely be called ‘terrorists’ and Green Hunt may be launched against them. Twentysix years, but should we forget?” The essence of what this friend (…)

• Rajapakse’s Visit

  14 June 2010

  COMMENTARY
  Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s visit to India offered the Union Government with an opportunity to highlight the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils in the island state as well as demand the resettlement of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) and successful implementation of a reconciliation plan for the war-ravaged state, apart from urging for concrete steps to guarantee an overall political settlement of the ethnic problem. The widespread protests in Tamil Nadu (…)

• God’s Chosen Rogues

  14 June 2010, by T J S George

  There is no country in the world—perhaps in history—like Israel. It has done wonderful things like turning deserts into lush agricultural farms. It has also turned itself into a singularly evil state. Its resort to cruelty against Palestinians has few parallels in modern history. Its nuclear hypocrisy is unparalleled too.
  Israel’s greatest exceptionality is the immunity it commands in the world. It can do pretty much what it likes—and get away with it. Other countries get damned by (…)

• Understanding the Maoist Threat and Dealing with It

  14 June 2010, by Balraj Puri

  After the massacre of 76 security persons in Dantewade in Bastar, a part of the Chhattisgarh State, a sort of war began between the government and the Maoists which, according to the Union Home Minister, was started by the latter, more so in the mindset of the combatants. Since then the situation has been aggravated. Forty persons travelling in a police bus in the same area were killed. The latest is a train blast in Jnaneshwari Express in the Midnapur area of West Bengal, alleged to be the (…)