Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Hundred Years of Russian Revolution: The Greatest Revolution

  12 August 2017, by Anil Rajimwale

  We are celebrating hundred years of the Russian Revolution, the greatest one that changed the course of history. There undoubtedly have been great revolutions in history but none like this one. The Russian Revolution changed the way we approached the society and the world. It, for the first time, put elimination of exploitation and poverty, the question of the radical reorganisation of the whole society on the agenda. The earlier revolutions simply continued the social development. The (…)

• Birth of Malorossiya? : Delivery Pains For Ukraine

  12 August 2017

  by R.G. Gidadhubli
  Ukraine has been a victim of crisis during the last few years—lost Crimea in 2014 by the alleged annexation by Russia, the ongoing conflict in the eastern part of the country adjoining Russia due to which about 10,000 people have died, and strained political relations with Russia. Even as Germany and France have taken the initiative in resolving this conflict under the Minsk Deal since 2015, durable peace is yet to emerge.
  What has added to Ukraine’s problem is that on (…)

• India‘s Response to China’s Doklam Game Plan

  12 August 2017

  by Jajati K. Pattnaik
  China’s Doklam game plan at the tri-junction of India-Bhutan-China has created a stalemate between the two Asian giants. Much to the chagrin of New Delhi, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China has made inroads into the Doklam plateau of Bhutan on June 16, 2017 to construct a motorable road to connect Doklam with the narrow Chumbi Valley in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The Indian forces entered into Doklam to prevent the Chinese brinksmanship over Doklam (…)

• How Muslims became the ‘Other’ in India

  12 August 2017

  BOOK REVIEW
  by Ahmad Zaboor
  Being the Other, the Muslims in India by Saeed Naqvi; Publication: Aleph; 2016; 239 pages; Rs 599.
  Beyond any description India is scripting a fast economic growth, that may be a solace for the corporate class including the government but the bare truth is that the growth process has simply bypassed India’s largest religious community of Muslims, as has been vindicated by the government-appointed Sachar Committee Report. Muslims also suffer from political (…)

• With political help, lobbies put chemicals in our diet; BJP must honour its pledge to keep GM food out

  12 August 2017, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  Before the power of commercial lobbies, even the BJP Government bows. The party’s manifesto took a strong stand against GM foods; ignoring it, the government’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) greensignalled genetically engineered mustard in India. GM mustard is known to be more dangerous than GM cotton (which has caused havoc already) and GM brinjal (which was stopped in the nick of time).
  Because mustard is used in every household every day in India, its health (…)

• Letter to the Prime Minister from Sarvodaya and Gandhian Workers

  12 August 2017

  To
  Shri Narendra Modi,
  Prime Minister of India,
  New Delhi 110001.
  Dear Hon’ble Prime Minister,
  Sub: GM Mustard — Request to reject commercial release
  We, as members of the Sarvodaya movement and Gandhian networks, write to you, as consumers, as citizens of a democratic India and on behalf of all those who are concerned with the bio-violence that forms the inherent basis of the genetic modification technology. We have serious objections to the release of the Genetically Modified (…)

• GM Mustard: A Contrary View

  12 August 2017

  by Govind Bhattacharjee
  Mr. Bharat Dogra’s article “Approval of GM Crops ignores Growing Scientific Evidence against Them” (Maintain June 3) presents one side of the argument and quotes facts only in support of that argument. But there is another side and the issue remains far from settled. While the fear of corporatisation of agriculture, or health and safety concerns, highlighted by him, may be true, despite the fact that WHO has certified GM crops as perfectly safe, the government’s (…)

• Pushpa Bhargava’s Biggest Struggle in Last Years was Against GM Crops

  12 August 2017, by Bharat Dogra

  COMMUNICATION
  Many thanks to Mainstream (August 5) for prominently publishing the tribute to Pushpa Mittra Bhargava. However the tribute is not quite complete without a mention of the tireless struggle of the great scientist against GM crops. This peaked during his last years just as the need to save India from GM crops increased during this period due to the growingly aggressive interests of big business interests to get an entry for GM food crops in India by hook or by crook. As Prof (…)

• 

  Relevant Concerns and Pertinent Queries

  5 August 2017, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  Several developments in the domestic sphere have attracted wide attention of late. These include the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) lowering its policy interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, cutting subsidy on such an item as cooking fuel (LPG) now that oil prices are low (though the concerned Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas has clarified that the “subsidy will not be cut down, it will only be rationalised”), the exit of Arvind (…)

• Appeasement of Minorities is a Myth

  5 August 2017

  by Ram Puniyani
  The turmoil in Kashmir has worsened since the encounter of Burhan Wani last year (2016). The ceaseless protests, the handling of protests leading to deaths and blinding of many is very disturbing. To cap this negative development the attack on Amaranth pilgrims has added salt to the wounds of the nation. (July 2017)
  Tragedy struck when one of the buses was attacked. The bus driver, Salim, in a brave gesture, kept driving despite being wounded, and that prevented a (…)