2010

To mark the passage of thirtyfive years since the imposition of Emergency by Indira Gandhi on June 25-26, 1975, we reproduce some extracts from the story of “Mainstream’s Journey Through Emergency” which was published in the June 25, 1977 issue of this journal. —Editor
The story of Mainstream during the nineteen months of Emergency is both exciting and rewarding. It has many lessons to impart. The confrontation with a despotic authority could not possibly be direct and formal: by its very (…)

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 years is but a short space in the vast canvas that (…)

The following open letter to the Chief Justice of India and the Chairpersons of the National Commission for Women (NCW) and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by women’s groups was sent to us for publication in Mainstream in the last week of May but could not be used earlier due to unavoidable reasons. —Editor
Respected Chief Justice of India,
Chairperson of National Commission for Women,
Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission,
Subject: Appeal for justice in the case of (…)

Eighteen is a difficult age to own decisions or assume responsibility—especially concerning the fortunes of wayward younger siblings. By a curious coincidence, Russia has been tasked with taking a monumental decision of assuming responsibility on the 18th anniversary of its national day when on Saturday (June 12) the Kremlin received a formal communication from the President of the interim government of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva.
By Otunbayeva’s own description, “We need the arrival of (…)

The United States is in the process of committing a historical blunder with grave consequences for not only Afghanistan but also the regions surrounding it. President Barack Obama’s decision to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan in 2011 is under-standable: the long and costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taxed the patience of the Americans, and the President himself must start planning his campaign for the second term. But it is the manner of the planned exit and its (…)

Inflation has once again touched the double-digit mark causing considerable concern in government circles (never mind the brave face put up by the Finance Ministry officials and the Finance Minister hinting at a tighter monetary policy regime and asserting that the Reserve Bank of India would take appropriate measures to tackle the problem). The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) figures for May have put inflation at 10.2 per cent over the year. It has been particularly high in case of certain (…)

The court verdict shows that India is still in a Victorian imperial-feudal era, distances away from the socialist dream
The mass slaughter that occurred in Bhopal on December 2, 1984 was the consequence of an American multinational corporation dealing with Indian lives in a cavalier manner. Some 20,000 people were “gasassinated”. Yet, after 26 years of trial, the culprits get two years of rigorous imprisonment as punishment. Such a thing can happen only in bedlam Bharat.
The (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following are the pieces on the Bhopal tragedy written by N.C. soon after the disaster that rocked the Union Carbide plant as well as the nation in the night of December 2-3, 1984. The first was written as ‘Observer’ and the second as ‘Sentinel’.
It was a massacre of innocents by all counts. What happened at the Union Carbide plant at Bhopal in the early morning of December 3 was not just a tragedy but a heinous crime which killed nearly two thousand and (…)

The ten days that followed the Union Carbide’s killer gas leak in its plant at Bhopal on December 3 have not only seen the death of nearly three thousand people and more than a lakh hospitalised, but have brought in its train dramatic developments with far-reaching implications. The Chairman of the Union Carbide Corporation, Warren Anderson, was arrested and bundled out of Bhopal, while the Chairman of the Indian branch of the Union Carbide, Keshub Mahindra, and its Managing Director, V.P. (…)

In what are generally, though not always, correctly called democratic countries, governments are elected by the people. Typically, the members of elected governments take oaths when they assume office. In these oaths they promise to do certain things. Without exception, the things they promise to do are to be in the service and defence of the people who elected them. No Minister in India, for example, has sworn to harm India’s people. His or her duty, the justification for her or his (…)