Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Roots of the Emergency / Emergency (1975-77) Mainstream’s Rewarding Struggle / Good-Bye to All That

  24 June 2017, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The Roots of the Emergency
  As years pass by, one after the other, the past recedes more and more into distant memory. There are certain events in the life of a nation, as of individuals, to which distance does not lend enchantment to the view. Rather the ugly visage falls into the pattern of historical evolution and lives on as such. One such event in our lifetime, and in our very land, was the Emergency which was promulgated on June 25-26, twenty years ago.
  Twenty (…)

• Palestine and the Jewish Lobbying Activities

  24 June 2017

  by Ahmad Zaboor
  The cornerstone of the American Middle-East policy has been its relationship with Israel. Why is it that Israel every time rides roughshod over the Palestinians and virtually listens to no one, not even at times to the, US and goes scot-free every time? The bonding between the two nations is believed to be based on shared interests and the compelling narrative of suffering at the hands of two-legged beasts, as the Palestinians are described by Zionists. However, the overall (…)

• The Kashmir Crisis

  24 June 2017, by Eduardo Faleiro

  India and Pakistan attained independence in 1947 and all the princely States, except Kashmir, merged into either of the two countries. Pakistan demanded that Kashmir, a Muslim majority State, should accede to it but the ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, did not comply.
  In 1948, Pashtun tribesmen invaded the Kashmir Valley with the support of the Pakistani Government. The ruler of Kashmir asked India for help. The Government of India demanded that Kashmir should first accede to India and the (…)

• What ails Afghanistan?

  24 June 2017, by Apratim Mukarji

  After spending more than $ 117 billion for Afghanistan’s reconstruction in fifteen years, the “largest expenditure to rebuild a country in our nation’s history” (as the latest report of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan’s Reconstruction describes), it is but natural that the US Administration is keen to find an answer to the question, “What ails the country?” In simple language, “How much longer will we have to carry this awesome burden?”
  As various US Government agencies seek (…)

• Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh in the Present Indian Labour Scenario

  24 June 2017

  by Gautam Sen
  The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS)has recently demanded a reorientation of the government‘s labour policies. The BMS has also called for a correction of the policies of the NITI Aayog (former Planning Commission re-incar-nated as a government think-tank),which it has described as aligned to the interests of the corporate sector. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-affiliated labour union, claiming a membership strength of nearly one crore and affiliation of more than 5000 unions, (…)

• Language of Counter-insurgency in Kashmir and Chhattisgarh

  24 June 2017

  COMMUNICATION
  Giorgio Agamben reminded us in his short piece, titled “Security and Terror”, that in the course of a gradual neutralisation of politics and the progressive surrender of the traditional tasks of the state, security “now becomes the sole criterion of political legitimation”.
  Recent developments in Kashmir and Chhattisgarh bear testimony to Agamben’s seminal observation. The blatant instance of human rights violation in Kashmir in recent times, in the name of “security”, is (…)

• Farmers and the Sangh

  24 June 2017, by Badri Raina

  You would think That farmers would be The Sangh Parivar’s first love, Considering how they tend The holy cow, and are Custodians of Creation’s Most pristine ambrosia, Namely, cow’s urine.
  You would think they Would be beloved Of the Sangh, considering They live next to Heaps of dung, which, as You know, is therapeutic Of the highest rung.
  You would think Farmers to be prized Offspring of Bharat Mata, Given that they are the Realm’s Anna Data. And for being closest To tradition which (…)

• Agrarian Crisis, Darjeeling Unrest, Rising Intolerance

  17 June 2017, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  The agrarian crisis across the country, that was highlighted in these columns last week, has further accentuated with another farmer taking his life in Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district this morning. This is the seventh case of farmers’ suicide in seven days in a region which has witnessed violent farmer protests over the rapidly declining crop prices.
  On June 6 Madhya Pradesh shot into national prominence when five farmers were shot dead in police firing during (…)

• Hung Parliament in the UK: Theresa May Scores Self-goal

  17 June 2017

  by Purusottam Bhattacharya
  The opinion pollstars have got it wrong again—the Brexit referendum of June last year, Donald Trump’s triumph in the US elections last November and the just concluded general elections in the UK, three in a row in the last one year. British Prime Minister Theresa May had called snap general elections last April (the next elections were due only in 2020) on the strength of opinion polls which gave her a 20-point lead over the Labour Party ostensibly to strengthen (…)

• Ethnic Divide

  17 June 2017

  by Samit Kar
  The Right to Cessation among the people of Darjeeling began to snowball since the formation of Sikkim as a separate State in 1975 at the behest of Indira Gandhi. The creation of Sikkim also led to a gradual deterioration of Sino-Indian relationship as the State primarily emerged as a military State of our country. The establishment of a strong military base bordering China did have a strategic reason to safeguard our national interest in the aftermath of repeated Chinese (…)