Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Kashmir: Retrieve the Magic

  27 March 2010, by Karuna Thakur

  The mood in Kashmir, after the Indira-Sheikh Accord of 1975, was upbeat. A surge of emotions over the leader’s homecoming had apparently overshadowed the bitterness of the fifties. The Valley had turned into a nerve-centre of activity and played host to an influx of visitors including leaders, writers, journalists and film-makers. Globetrotting yogis too descended on the scene to unwind, while some like the Mahesh Yogi group held training sessions on transcendental meditation for the (…)

• The Valley of Incongruities

  27 March 2010, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Whatever may be the substance of the much-advertised point of difference between Peking and Washington over the question of détente, it may be safely assumed that Gerald Ford’s talks with Mao Tse-tung and his cohorts explored the further potentialities of Sino-American collusion, particularly in the countries of the Third World. Angola shows the enormity of this entente while the happenings in Bangladesh underscores this danger in our immediate neighbourhood. (…)

• On ‘Operation Green Hunt’, Maoist Violence, Government-Maoist Talks

  27 March 2010

  [bleu] The following are the statements of different organisations and individuals, representing the civil society, on ‘Operation Green Hunt’, Maoist violence and the proposed negotiations between the Union Government and CPI (Maoist). These are being presented here for the benefit of our readers.bleu]
  ‘Operation Green Hunt’—An Euphemism for Genocide of the Tribals
  Of significance is the number of killings that has happened ever since the commencement of the ‘Operation Green Hunt’, say, (…)

• Paradox of Gandhiji’s Champaran Struggle

  27 March 2010

  COMMUNICATION
  Girish Mishra’s “Gandhi’s Champaran Struggle” (Mainstream, February 13, 2010) was interesting. It focused on certain aspects which are not commonly known to many. At the same time, however, it has left out many information relevant in the context of his struggle in Champaran, which was the first Indian theatre of experiment of his unique satyagraha. Maybe in a small compass, the writer could not bring many important, though relevant, facts in its ambit.
  In his first (…)

• Exploring Afpak Policy: An Indian Perspective

  27 March 2010, by Kamalakanta Roul

  Introduction
  Terrorism is a categorical means of intimidation as manifested from economic volatility, political pendulum, poverty, unemployment, religious extremism, sectarianism, ethnic and cultural conflicts. It is deeply rooted in South Asia, especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has assumed a global character. In its global form terrorism has become a serious concern for the world community. After the unprecedented WTO attack on September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration started (…)

• Tagore 2011: Advance Posting

  27 March 2010, by Amiya Dev

  CAMEO
  It is a few years now that a bronze bust of Rabindranath Tagore has been installed at Stratford-upon-Avon with his poem on Shakespeare inscribed on the pedestal in the original Bengali with his own English translation. It was a gift from the Government of West Bengal. Visitors taking a stroll in the Shakespeare garden are not likely to miss it. But how many of them, barring Indians and Bangladeshis of course, will be aware of the greatness of the greatest Bengali poet? Will they be (…)

• Measures for Promoting Exports in the Short and Medium Terms

  27 March 2010, by Anshuman Gupta

  India has emerged victorious in the recent recession, which started in the US and engulfed the whole world in a short span of time. India could be able to secure a respectable rate of growth of 6.7 per cent during 2008-09, which is the second highest in world after China. This was mainly because of the domestic-led demand of the Indian economy and stimulus measures initiated by the government at the fiscal and monetary policy levels. However, the exports of India suffered a great deal as a (…)

• Political Economy of Judicial Precedent—Delay and Unaccountability

  27 March 2010, by K G Somasekharan Nair

  Law courts in Britain, their Jonathan Brother America and some Eastern countries, believing White is right, are being overwhelmed by the weight of pending cases and the people despair over the despicable delay in the administration of justice. In accordance with the increase in population, they enhanced the number of prodigal courts, but when the number of courts was increasing in arithmetical progression, the number of pending cases increased in geometric progression. Now Western judges are (…)

• State Response to Refugees in South Asia

  27 March 2010, by C. Lalruatfeli

  BOOK REVIEW
  Exile and Belonging: Refugees and State Policy in South Asia by Pia Oberoi; Oxford University Press, New Delhi; 2006.
  Exile and Belonging: Refugees and State Policy in South Asia deals with the state response to refugees in South Asia. It focuses on the responses of the four major South Asian states. The author, Pia Oberoi, examines the changing relationship between South Asian states and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She picks up six major (…)

• Biological Warfare and Genetic Engineering

  27 March 2010, by Bharat Dogra

  Biological warfare is known to be one of the most destructive yet secretive forms of warfare. In fact its strength derives to a large extent from the fact that it can unleash so much damage without the identity of a specific attack, not to mention the attacker, becoming clear at all. Biological warfare (also called germ-warfare) can be used to spread disease among human beings or destroy crops on a large scale. Protection against such an attack is extremely difficult, specially in the case (…)