Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  Saudi Arabia

  12 May, by M R Narayan Swamy

  [fond noir][blanc]BOOK REVIEWblanc]fond noir]
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  Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Rivalry that Unravelled the Middle East;
  by Kim Ghattas
  Wildfire/Headline Publishing Group
  Pages: xvii + 378; Price: Rs. 799
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  It is mind-boggling to even know how much death, destruction and human suffering Saudi Arabia has rained on the larger Islamic world with an insular religious ideology that has torn apart even the believers.
  In a seminal study of the perennially turbulent (…)

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  Audio: Writer Amitav Ghosh on Why India Has Lost Its Way | Big Take Asia

  12 May
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  Video: How liberals monetized trauma | Catherine Liu on Marx, Trump, and identity politics

  12 May
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  Song: The Lambretta Story — Usha Iyer & the Ronnie Menezes Quartet (1968)

  12 May

• Lathis and Lies in NOIDA as State turns on NCR factory workers | John Dayal

  1 May, by John Dayal

  April 27, 2026
  A labour protest for a living wage has led to a major police crackdown in Uttar Pradesh

• Reading Noida Workers

  1 May, by Arup Kumar Sen

  The recent workers

• Labour Unrest in Noida Industrial Belt | Obhimonyu Alam

  1 May

  A wave of labour unrest swept across the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi in April 2026. Feelings of discontent among workers over issues of inadequate wages, rising cost of living, and inhospitable working conditions have been brewing under the surface from at least early February. Reports of sporadic, small-scale agitations have trickled in from Barauni (Bihar), Panipat (Haryana), Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh), and Surat (Gujarat).
  The most recent spark to the spreading of the (…)

• Growing Economy, Shrinking Opportunities: India

  1 May

  India

• The Price of Disposability: What the Noida Protests Tell Us About Indian Labour | Himadri Sekhar Mistri & Sanjay Kumar

  1 May

  The Noida-Delhi industrial belt witnessed intense unrest in the recent past. Workers who were protesting were called rioters as the message of violence was spread. The arrest was dubbed a restoration of order. Some officials instantly asserted that there were anti-national forces at work in the unrest. It even received a Pakistani twist. In India in 2026, it appears that no demonstration can be lawful until it is referred to a foreign hand. This framing needs to be analysed carefully. The (…)

• Is 135 Workdays a Viable Guarantee or a Smokescreen? | Amal Mandal

  1 May

  An unanticipated increase in the guaranteed workdays from 100 to 125 for the willing rural households is one pivot of the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (GRAMG). However, the absence of explicit intent or rationale raises apprehension about whether the expanded perimeter is a dynamic commitment, a viable pledge, rhetoric, a deflecting tactic or a smokescreen.
  The 125 days of work seems one standalone guarantee in the sense that the preceding (…)