Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Other “Jallianwala Bagh”

  24 April 2017, by Apratim Mukarji

  On April 13 India has observed the 97th anniversary of British India’s darkest episode, the massacre of innocents at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. That unspeakable act happened in 1919. A year later British India bared its imperial fangs again in another episode that remains largely unknown in India.
  The Connaught Rangers of the British Army was entirely manned by Irish soldiers, recruited from Ireland, imperial Britain’s first colony where all the atrocities committed in Asian and African (…)

• The Prime Minister’s Office: Origin and Evolution

  24 April 2017, by Ashok Parthasarathi

  Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister, had only his Special Assistant, M.O. Mathai, to assist him in his work. Mathai had the rank and salary of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India. However, Nehru was, for much of his seventeen years (1947-1964) as the PM, also the Minister of External Affairs. So, he drew on the Ministry’s four Secretaries to assist him not only on foreign affairs but also on several domestic matters. What is more, despite his towering personality, he had, as (…)

• Threat to Constitutional Structure

  24 April 2017, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  A situation of unprecedented confusion synchronising with the onset of serious crisis for the entire constitutional structure of the Indian state presents before the nation today.
  On the one side is the outright challenge of the BJP, the most aggressive of political parties, threatening to defy the entire administration in a manner never seen before; and on the other, the ruling party at the Centre presents a picture of utter disunity with factions not only (…)

• By-elections in Jammu and Kashmir: Where do they Lead to?

  24 April 2017

  by Gautam Sen
  Jammu and Kashmir has just gone through a spell of by-elections affected by murder and mayhem, saturated deployment of security forces, huge public resistance to the electoral process and an atmosphere in which no reasonable display of will of the electorate was manifestly feasible. The by-elections were slated to the Anantnag and Srinagar Lok Sabha seats. Unprecedented public opposition to these elections and threats to those electors interested in voting, and intimidation (…)

• Kashmir Needs a Healing Touch Today

  24 April 2017, by Vidya Bhushan Rawat

  What is the meaning of victory of Farooq Abdullah from the Srinagar constituency where not even seven per cent votes were polled? In many of the booths merely two per cent votes were polled. I know there are past precedences of such a situation in at least three Indian States when people boycotted and the government determinedly went for polls and was áble to form ministries. But when the world is watching and we claim to be the biggest democracy of the world, shouldn’t it be a matter of (…)

• Why Possibilities of Cooperation and Alliance between Congress and Left Parties May Increase

  24 April 2017, by Bharat Dogra

  In the emerging situation it appears that possibilities of cooperation between the Congress and Left parties are increasing. There are five main reasons for this.
  Firstly, it should be increasingly clear to the Congress that in the emerging situation it can increase its relevance and appeal only by a Left-of-Centre agenda.
  Secondly, it should be equally clear to the Congress that in important States where it is weak, particularly Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it needs to build alliances but (…)

• UGC Regulations: Doom for Higher Education

  24 April 2017

  by Krishna Jha
  The blood-soaked walls of segregation, that could be brought down after long-drawn struggles and sacrifices, are here again. The gates of higher education are getting shuttered for larger sections of those thirsty for knowledge. The higher education system in the country is being sought to be placed out of bounds for the general masses.
  The blow came last year when the University Grants Commission passed regulations in May 2016, leading to shackle the autonomous character (…)

• The Idea of a ‘University’: What it should or should not be!

  24 April 2017

  by Pradeep Nair and Sandeep Sharma
  “A University is a place ... where students come from every quarter for every kind of knowledge; ... a place for the communication and circulation of thought ... It is a place where inquiry is pushed forward ... discoveries verified and perfected, and ... error exposed, by the collision of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge. ... Thus is created a pure and clear atmosphere of thought, which the student also breathes”.
  John Henry Newman, 1854, (…)

• Campus Battles: Ideological Conflicts over Non-issues

  24 April 2017

  by Navneet Sharma and Khem Raj Sharma
  ‘Catch them young’ is the political and philosophical perspective which guides almost all political parties (except the BSP) when they form their students’ wing which functions across the country in university and college campuses. The most famous and sordid revolutions across the world have also seen higher education campuses as their favourite germination turf. Somehow the most prestigious technical, medical and management campuses in India have been (…)

• The ‘Truth is in Custody for 115 Days’!

  24 April 2017

  The following piece, written by Professor Kaseem, a well-known poet and critic (who is also an Assistant Professor, Nizam College, Hyderabad), has been rendered into English by Anishetty Shankar, a writer and freelance journalist, and sent to us for publication. This is about seven members of a fact-finding team that left Telangana for Chhattisgarh to extend support to the Adivasis’ struggle there. The team members were arrested by the Telangana State Police and handed over to the (…)