Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• On Uniform Civil Code

  2 April 2017, by Eduardo Faleiro

  The question of a Uniform Civil Code is one of the most controversial issues in Indian politics today. The Uniform Civil Code is intended to replace personal laws based on customs and religion of the major communities of India by one common law covering marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance and governing every citizen.
  Article 44 of Constitution, a Directive Principle, says that the State should endeavour to secure for all citizens an Uniform Civil Code through-out (…)

• In Memory of my Friend Syed Shahabuddin

  2 April 2017, by Muchkund Dubey

  Syed Shahbuddin’s demise on March 4, 2017 came as a great personal loss to me. My association with Shahab, as I affectionately called him, dates back to our year of matriculation from the Patna University in 1950. After that, he joined the Science College and myself the adjacent Patna College of the university. Both of us completed our post-graduate studies the same year in 1956, he with Physics and myself with Economics, from the Patna University. After taking our Master’s degree, both of (…)

• Trouble over China getting land in Sri Lanka

  2 April 2017, by Harish Chandola

  Trouble has broken out in Sri Lanka over its allocation of land to China for a supermarket and naval facilities. The government in Colombo had moved some shops and business houses from Hambantola to build an industrial zone for Chinese investors.
  Last week thousands demonstrated at the inauguration of an industrial zone at Hambantola, as the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Yi Xianliang, the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, came there for the inauguration of the zone. (…)

• European Union at 60: Integration and its Aftermath

  2 April 2017

  by Purusottam Bhattacharya
  On March 25, 2017, 27 leaders of the European Union (EU) gathered at the Italian capital, Rome, to celebrate 60 years of the European project which was literally born from the ashes of the Second World War. It was on March 25, 1957 that the leaders of France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed the historic Treaty of Rome which gave birth to the then European Economic Community (EEC) that began its journey on January 1, 1958. Since (…)

• Russian Revolution and Soviet Power

  2 April 2017, by Anil Rajimwale

  One read with great interest the articles of Rosa Luxemburg (Mainstream, November 5, 2016) and Dr Paresh Chattopadhyaya. (Mainstream, Annual Number, 2016) Both bring to light the contra-dictory nature of Soviet revolution and its complexities, which continue to daunt scholars and analysts alike
  Nature and Role of Soviets
  The origin and evolution of the Soviets and their subsequent loss pf power under the rule of the Communist Party is a rich and increasingly complex task in view of the (…)

• Did Someone Say Liberalism?

  2 April 2017

  by Murzban Jal
  The following paper emerged from a seminar on “Pluralism and the Crisis of Identity” organised by Zaheen Ali and Surendra Jondhale at the Mumbai University on March 12 and 13, 2017. The author writes: “I am thankful to them for inspiring me to write this piece.”
  Bourgeois society continuously brings forth the Jew from its own entrails.
  —Karl Marx
  There is no Negro problem in the United States.
  There is only a white problem.
  —Richard Wright
  It is not the Jewish (…)

• Now consider this Yogi-ji:

  2 April 2017, by Badri Raina

  Unburdened by subtlety,
  He spews his favourite hate,
  Upfront and straight—
  Not a tree but a cactus he. Badri Raina

• Uniform Civil Code: A much-needed reform or a political tool?

  2 April 2017, by Shamsul Islam

  The Shiv Sena (the vanguard of moral policing and culture as seen recently in Kerala) says: “The Muslim Law Board should support the UCC as it will help the community, especially the women to come out of misery.”
  The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) or personal law was always a “controversial” one in the Indian polity. Modern India has adopted a common law system as a replacement to Manu’s code, even though most of it remains on paper and in reality many a time equality is denied in legal and (…)

• Can Madarassas be compared with RSS-run Schools?

  2 April 2017

  by Ram Puniyani
  Digvijay Singh’s tweet ‘Madrassas and Sarswati Shishu mandirs (SSM), both spread hate’ (February 23, 2017) has evoked a lot of response from diverse sections. On the one hand, Muslim groups have taken him to task for demonisation of the Madrassas, and on the other, the RSS supporters have come out attesting the utility of the SSMs and criticising him for comparing the SSMs with Madrassas which are ‘dens of terror’, according to them.
  The demonisation of the Madrassas (…)

• 

  Time to Meet the Grim Challenge

  25 March 2017, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  As one writes these lines, twelve days have passed since March 11, when the results of the five State Assembly elections came out. Till date one has not come across any detailed analysis of what went wrong in UP, the most populous State of the country, that the ruling party at the Centre with its allies was able to garner as many as 325 seats in the 403-member House there despite the absence of any perceptible wave among the public at large.
  One is not qualified to undertake (…)