Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Hijacking—Issues and Perspectives

  19 March 2010, by Latika Nath

  The word hijacking brings to mind horrific images and disturbing thoughts about air travel safety. Hijacking is now looked upon as an act of terrorism. Hijacking entered a new phase on September 9, 2001. This signified an attitudinal change in terror tactics in the world.
  The first recorded case of hijacking of a civilian airliner occurred in 1948. Thereafter, it has been used to express human rights violations, dissidence and to highlight national liberation struggles. During the (…)

• Muslim Activists’ Call to Government and Parliament

  19 March 2010

  There was a National Meet of Muslim Activists for Reservation at New Delhi on February 10, 2010. The following is the Final Statement adopted at the Meet.
  Muslim Activists for Reservation from all over the country, meeting in Delhi on February 10, 2010, have considered the Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by Justice Ranganath Mishra, former Chief Justice of India, in depth and generally welcome it and salute the Chairman and all the members (…)

• Dalit Symbolism and the Democratisation of Secular Spaces

  19 March 2010, by Harish S. Wankhede

  Introduction
  In the recent past, wider discussion and debate have been built over the issue of mega-construction works undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government. Intellectuals and social activists were worried that public money was being drained out in such a big way to build something which blatantly represents the political symbols of a particular political party. In the media also we have noticed severe criticism against these construction works by describing them as ecologically (…)

• Ukraine’s Presidential Election—Outcome and Implications

  19 March 2010, by Arun Mohanty

  Ukraine’s presidential election was watched with utmost attention by the international community as its outcome is bound to usher in serious changes in the domestic and foreign policy of that country, and transform the geopolitical landscape in the entire Eurasia space. The elimination of the incumbent Victor Yushchenko, who polled a mere five per cent in the first round, itself signals the marginalisation of pro-American Rightist forces for ever if you go by the pattern in the other CIS (…)

• Tribute to Harekrishna Debnath

  19 March 2010, by Santanu Chakraverti

  Harekrishna Debnath, veteran social activist, Chairperson of National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) and Executive Member of World Forum for Fisher Peoples (WFFP), passed away on December 30, 2009 at 11.15 am, at his residence in Ashoknagar, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. On his demise the coastal fishers’ and fishworkers’ movement and the struggle for environment and social justice suffers a great loss.
  In 2008, Debnath led what was to become one of the key milestones of the fishers’ (…)

• Marjah: The Long Haul and Naked Truth

  19 March 2010, by Bashir Mohammad

  Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited the once-Taliban refuge, Marjah, a town of 80,000 residents in the southwestern province of Helmand, along with top US and Afghan officials on March 7. However, the visit, as has been noted in a recent report in The New York Times News Service, “made clear how much further there was to go if the people of Marjah were ever to throw their loyalty behind the Afghan Government.”
  Why? Because despite Karzai trying his best to play to the crowd, that (…)

• On the Tragic Beheadings of Pakistani Sikhs by the Taliban

  19 March 2010, by Vasudha Dhagamwar

  The horrifying news about the beheading of three Sikhs in the tribal regions of North West Frontier Province hit the electronic media on February 21 and the print media a day later. Some sources say they were beheaded because the very large ransom was not paid. Some say it was because they refused to convert. But true it is that they were beheaded and their bodies thrown in public places including a gurudwara. For once, even the MEA of the Government of India has not treated it as an (…)

• Where is the Holistic Understanding?

  6 March 2010, by SC

  The hike in Central excise duty on petrol and diesel as well as the two per cent ad valorem increase on non-petro products in the latest Union Budget the Finance Minister presented in Parliament last Friday (February 26) have justifiably incensed the entire Opposition with members from all Opposition parties (from the BJP to CPI) taking the extraordinary step of trooping out of the Lok Sabha in the midst of—and not after—Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget speech. This step was indeed extraordinary (…)

• Why We Oppose ‘Green Hunt’

  6 March 2010, by Ambrose Pinto

  For the tribals and the poor, “Green Hunt” is nothing else but a united front of state and mining corporations to grab their land and rich natural resources by silencing the voices of those who fight for their homeland rights. The state, the tribals and the poor believe, is in nexus with the designs of the multinational and Transnational corporations. The Honourable Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, had said that sacred hills do not give people food to eat or clothes to wear. That is why he (…)

• Secessionist Senas

  6 March 2010

  COMMUNICATION
  The Senas’ “Maharashtra for Maharashtrians only” claim is patently parochial, divisive, separatist, seditious, and secessionist. Political parties like the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are a threat to the unity of the nation. These extra-constitutional authorities need to be dealt with ruthlessly. How can the Senas ignore the fact that the “outsiders” have contributed the lion’s share to the growth of Mumbai, and that without the “outsiders”, life in the city (…)