Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Kingdom of Money is here

  17 November 2009, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  There is a strong case for Bellary to be made a separate State, if not an independent, sovereign republic. That such a consummation will save both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh from political paralysis is only an incidental benefit. The real gain will be the restoration of Bellary’s ancient royal glory under new kings.
  Bellary is today mistaken for a backwater area. Some think it is Sonia Gandhi’s birthplace. Some others believe that Sushma Swaraj went to school under a (…)

• US Goofs the Afghan Election

  17 November 2009, by M K Bhadrakumar

  Abdullah Abdullah’s refusal to take part in the Afghan presidential election runoff on November 7 is a watershed event. From his point of view, the former Foreign Minister did the sensible thing, having carefully assessed he had no stake whatsoever in a runoff that he had zero chance of winning.
  President Hamid Karzai has also shown the door to Abdullah’s Western sponsors. They had approached in hopes of gaining a last-minute “deal” that would see Abdullah, their protégé, gain some (…)

• Nehru for Today

  17 November 2009

  [ November 14 this year marks Jawaharlal Nehru’s one hundred and twentieth birth anniversary. On this occasion we are publishing the following excerpts from Panditji’s speeches carried in Jawaharlal Nehru: An Anthrology (edited by Sarvepalli Gopal). Thereafter we reproduce three pieces written on Nehru by Shyam Benegal, one of the country’s leading filmmakers, eminent historian Bipan Chandra and veteran diplomat A.K. Damodaran included in the volume Nehru—The Nation Remembers (Tributes (…)

• A Finely Tuned Sensibility

  17 November 2009, by Shyam Benegal

  Aristocratic in taste, democratic by tempera-ment and egalitarian by conviction, Jawaharlal Nehru comes through as a man with a finely tuned artistic sensibility, with an unceasing curiosity in the world around him, never losing his sense of wonder at the marvels of life and the universe. His deep and abiding faith in humanity committed him to the cause of freedom not only for his own country but also for those countries from whom the right of self-determination was taken away.
  For (…)

• A Total Commitment

  17 November 2009, by Bipan Chandra

  We who have lived through one part or the other of the Nehru era look back on that period with nostalgia as a sort of Golden Age; we tend to regard those times as the “good old days”. In fact, those years were, more than at present, filled with poverty and misery. Yet, the existence of a Jawaharlal Nehru made all the difference.
  Nehru’s place in history would be assured by the leader’s role he played in the anti-imperialist struggle. As a national liberator, he was second only to (…)

• A Splendid Partnership

  17 November 2009, by A.K. Damodaran

  Of the many achievements of Jawaharlal Nehru as a national leader, world statesman and a sensitive individual who had the rare opportunity of shaping the destinies of a whole nation and, at the same time, possessed the gift for standing back and eyeing with some detachment his own strengths and weaknesses, and also commenting upon them in an anxiously honest fashion, the institutional aspects are the most impressive. In spite of the many popular taunts and repeated gibes, Jawaharlal was no (…)

• Twenty Years After

  17 November 2009, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  In the sultry summer morning of May 27, 1964, when Jawaharlal Nehru left the land of his birth and its people whose affection he earned in abundance, nobody in this wide world of India had any idea how this country would look twenty years later, how the life and living of its toiling millions would change, how the nation would conduct itself in the comity of nations. As his funeral cortege wended its way through the vast humanity wrapped up in tearful mourning, the one thought that hovered (…)

• Sheikh Hasina’s Resolve to Foil the Conspiracy of Destabilisation in Bangladesh

  17 November 2009, by Amitava Mukherjee

  With the trial of the assassins of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman well under way in Bangladesh, violent incidents are taking place there pointing to a worrying and live nexus between Islamic fundamentalism and the anti-freedom struggle forces. Unless tackled immediately with required firmness by the Sheikh Hasina Government, this nexus holds out threatening prospects for not just Bangladesh but India as well.
  The murderous attack on Fazle Noor Taposh, the Awami League parliamentarian and a (…)

• Managing Disasters and Displacement

  17 November 2009, by S G Vombatkere

  Abstract
  The article presents the political and economic impacts of various kinds of natural and man-made disasters and associated displacement of populations, and argues for a wider and more inclusive definition of disasters in the interest of human rights, social justice and equity for the victims of disasters.
  Legislation, Disasters and People
  Numerous disasters at national and international levels have caused governments to recognise the need for rapid and effective response to (…)

• A Peace Prize for Vague Promise, not for Real Performance

  17 November 2009, by N A Karim

  Of the now six Nobel Prizes the announcement of the names of awardees for Literature and Peace raises a few eyebrows everywhere every year. Unlike the science subjects, selection from among the nominees for peace is indeed a difficult task. Hands that were stained with human blood have received the medal and the cheque while men of meaningful peace have been overlooked, not once but several times. However, people all over the world look forward to the news of the selection every year because (…)