Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• State, Development and Communities: Anthropological Thresholds

  10 May 2010, by J.J. Roy Burman

  The study of the communities has always been in the throes of anthropology. The Darwinian influence compelled the discipline to place native communities in the scale of human evolution. Prehistoric archaeology or palaeoanthropology, genetics and blood-group studies or biometrics and cultural and social anthropology became the handmaid of colonial or state administrators to focus on the micro-studies so as to provide micro-solutions. The micro-studies came to be considered as holistic studies (…)

• Indian Polity—from Integration to Fragmentation

  10 May 2010, by Ranbir Singh

  The Indian Constitution, which came into force on January 26, 1950, had been designed by its makers to integrate the 562 princely states that had signed the Instrument of Accession into India after the strenuous and skilful efforts of the then Home Minister, Sardar Patel. Some of the larger among them, like Hyderabad and Mysore, were made Part-B States and their rulers, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maharaja of Mysore, were designated as Rajpramukhs. Some small but contiguous princely (…)

• Japan - Will Hatoyama’s $ 1 trillion Budget Resuscitate the Economy?

  10 May 2010, by Rajaram Panda

  On March 24, 2010, the Japanese Diet passed a record 92.3 trillion yen ($1 trillion) Budget, seeking to underpin a fragile recovery in the world’s second largest economy. The record Budget reflected Prime Minister Hatoyama’s promise to cut wasteful spending on public works and boost funding for social welfare. As a result, spending on public works projects will drop by a record 18.3 per cent to 5.8 trillion yen, which is the lowest in 32 years.
  Though Hatoyama’s aim is to kick-start (…)

• Am I a Maoist?

  10 May 2010, by Gladson Dungdung

  I appeared in public life through my human rights work, writings and speeches. However, I reached to a larger audience when I got a chance to appear in CNN-IBN and NDTV-24×7 debates on the issue of Naxalism last year. After these debates, I got immense positive and negative responses from across the country. I was upset for sometime precisely because of the most negative responses I got from the youth who are running behind the market forces unknowingly. They ruthlessly questioned me about (…)

• Appeal to PM to Intervene in Manipur Forthwith, Defuse Tensions

  10 May 2010

  (The following are an appeal to the PM by a group of concerned citizens, their press release, and a letter to the Manipur Assembly Speaker by six Independent Naga MLAs announcing their decision to resign from the legislature in view of the police firing on civilians in the Naga areas of Manipur for having gathered to welcome the NSCN (IM) leader, Th Muivah, who was to visit his native village in Manipur.)
  May 5, 2010
  To
  Dr Manmohan Singh
  Prime Minister of India
  New Delhi
  Fax No. (…)

• India and the US Policy in Afghanistan

  10 May 2010, by Bashir Mohammad

  By now it is as clear as daylight what the Americans are up to in Afghanistan.
  In case Talibanisation grips Afghanistan (which is inevitable if the US plan to negotiate with the “moderate” Taliban by using the good offices of its client state, Pakistan, and the Pak intelligence network, the ISI, in particular, bears fruit) and as a corollary Islamic extremism sweeps Pakistan, India should expect more terror attacks from Pakistan-based groups once the Taliban finds sufficient space to (…)

• UPA’s Success amid Massive Protests

  1 May 2010, by SC

  The snowballing of the IPL controversy; the charge of the tapping of phones of several politicians being stoutly denied by the Union Home Minister; the BJP/Left’s allegation of the PM’s breach of Parliament’s privilege for having announced outside (when the House was in session) dismissal of the demand for a JPC probe on the IPL scandal and phone-tapping; the Opposition’s disruption of both Houses of Parliament on a PR lobbyist’s phone being placed under observation as part of a CBI (…)

• Media is Amoral, but it Works

  1 May 2010, by T J S George

  Applause greeted the Supreme Court’s ruling that Manu Sharma should spend the rest of his life in prison. The man was a cold-blooded killer. His victim’s only fault was that she declined to pour him a drink after the bar had closed. Annoyed, he shot Jessica Lal pointblank and swaggered out.
  Arrogance of this kind has marked many high-society crimes in recent years. This murderer was arrogant because of his money and his pedigree as a former Minister’s son. Spoiled rich kids ran their (…)

• Labour Day and May Day: Some Lesser Known Features

  1 May 2010, by Anil Rajimwale

  There are several aspects of the International Labour Day and May Day yet unknown; certain myths need to be clarified and little known facts about them must be highlighted.
  It is interesting to know that Labour Day did not originate as ‘May Day’. In fact, the working class movement in the United States had a long tradition of observing Labour Day much before the May Day originated. The workers’ movement in the US was part and parcel of the rising tide of industrialisation in Europe (…)

• An Examination of Conflict: Costs, Benefits and More

  1 May 2010, by S G Vombatkere

  The death of 76 CRPF police personnel on April 6, 2010 in a Maoist ambush in the Dantewada forest of Chhattisgarh is deeply disturbing not only because it is a loss to the families and the nation, but also because it inevi-tably means upscaling police action, creating more problems for the adivasi people of Chhattisgarh and neighbouring States, already caught in the cross-fire between Maoists and the police.
  This is a perspective of conflict situations with particular reference to (…)