Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Political Economy of Formal-informal Dichotomy and Post-coronavirus World

  3 May 2020

  by Indranil De
  The policy and planning in post-colonial countries have always been biased towards the urban elites (Chaplin, 2011). It is very much evident from the division of urban areas between well-served and unserved areas . The well served areas emerged as formal areas of residence and unserved areas as informal areas or slums. The Indian policymakers have always maintained a hierarchy between formal and informal sectors, with informal as subordinate to the formal. This is not only (…)

• The need is not to avoid Fiscal Deficit but to save lives

  3 May 2020

  by Akhilendra Pratap Singh
  The country has entered the second round of the lockdown. This time too, if some economic activities are omitted, then there is nothing special in the guidelines issued by the government for the relief of the common man. Whatever the reasoning, the truth is that the Prime Minister had announced the lockdown last time without any preparation and this time also there is no roadmap to deal with the hardships of the people created by this epidemic. Despite being (…)

• COVID 19 the Crown Prince of Disaster Capitalism and the Question of the Joker

  3 May 2020

  by Murzban Jal
  Faust: .... And so, who are you, after all?
  Mephistopheles: I am part of the power which forever wills evil and forever works good.
  In 1919 in the period of the Great Revolutions, Milkhail Bulgakov, the Russian author of The White Guard and the famous The Master and Margarita whose political sympathies lay on the other side of the philosophical barricades, namely on the side of monarchy and the anti-Bolshevik counterrevolution, called communism a «malevolent disease» (…)

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  Condemning Misuse of UAPA by Union Government during COVID-19 Pandemic and Standing in Solidarity with Individuals; Civil Society Organisations Experiencing Targeted Crackdown

  3 May 2020

  DOCUMENT
  PRESS STATEMENT RELEASED APRIL 30, 2020
  Condemning Misuse of UAPA by Union Government during COVID-19 Pandemic and Standing in Solidarity with Individuals & Civil Society Organisations Experiencing Targeted Crackdown.
  We, a group of activists and citizens of India, express our deep concern over the recent arrests on the false pretext that have been taking place using the regressive Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) by the (…)

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  Teachers of Central Universities urge the Government to review its decision of freezing DA and DR; say it tantamounts to wage cut

  3 May 2020

  DOCUMENT
  Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Associations (FEDCUTA)
  Press Release; 26.4.2020
  The FEDCUTA is concerned at the decision of the Government of India freezing the Dearness Allowance (DA) of Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) of Central Government Pensioners at current levels till July 2021, which will also impact teaching and non-teaching staff of Central Universities and their affiliated Colleges.
  The freezing of DA has at one stroke been (…)

• The World To End in 30 Years?

  3 May 2020, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  The story is that a man used to walk up and down London’s glamorous Oxford Street with a placard proclaiming «the end is nigh.» The idea was to encourage people to repent their sins and prepare for the imminent apocalypse. What was only a spiritual note of caution then has now acquired real-life validity thanks to the corona virus. An Australian think-tank has predicted that human civilisation as we know it will come to an end in 2050. The end is indeed nigh.
  The reason the (…)

• Life, Livelihood and Lock Down: The Dilemma Ahead

  3 May 2020

  by Manish Sharma
  Introduction
  The most pressing question before the nation is how to combat the existing pandemic coronavirus with minimum possible damage to the Indian economy. COVID-19 has created not just an emergency situation for health but for the economic health of the country as well. At present, the health of the Indian economy depends on the answers to the questions: how long the lock-down (complete or partial) would last in India? What would be the nature of restricted (…)

• Letter to the Editor from Dr. Atulkrishna Biswas - April 29, 2020

  3 May 2020

  Communication
  This rests on the Appeal captioned “Dr. Anand Teltumbde’s Arrest on Ambedkar Jayanti: A National Shame” calling upon the Dalit, Adivasi, OBC, and minority leadership to stand up and seek justice in the finest of traditions that Babasaheb has bequeathed to us signed by Dr. Thol Thirumavalavan, MP Founder-President, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, D. Raja, MP (Rajya Sabha), General Secretary, Communist Party of India Jijnesh Mewani, Independent MLA Vadgam (Gujarat), Dr. Udit (…)

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  Table of Contents Mainstream - Lockdown Edition no5 | April 25

  25 April 2020

  Contents - Mainstream, April 25, 2020 LETTER TO THE READERS - COVID 19 Lockdown Edition No.5 Mikhail Gorbachev: COVID-19 is a Common threat - Now, Cut Military Spending to Fund Human Security! CJA warns against misuse of emergency powers to silence independent media coverage of the global pandemic On high handed ways of law enforcement agencies in Jammu & Kashmir - Statement by the Editors Guild of India - April 21, 2020 Covid-19 has a grandma, grandpa and great grandpa. Where are they? (…)

• LETTER TO THE READERS - COVID 19 Lockdown Edition No.5

  25 April 2020

  Today is April 24, 2020. Precisely a month ago, that is, on March 24, 2020, the PM had in an address to the nation on the Corona Virus crisis declared the Government’s decision to impose a lockdown across the country to meet the danger of the pandemic that was threatening to assume serious proportions. Though it was doubtless a delayed response to a massive crisis, the announcement was unequivocally welcomed by several publications including this one which was not in the least oblivious of (…)