2012

The intense debate on the proposed inter-linking of rivers (ILR) project has revealed that some of the most eminent experts on the subject, including those who have occupied senior government positions in the past, have very serious reservation about this project.
It is extremely useful to examine carefully the points raised in a statement signed by 65 senior academics, former government officials, scientists, engineers, lawyers, journalists, environmentalists, activists and others. This (…)

by Ali Ahmed
It is fairly clear by now that a draw-down, not amounting to a withdrawal, of the US-NATO force ISAF from Afghanistan is underway. The exit is not to be a complete one since the Strategic Partnership Agreement between Obama and Karzai allows them to stay on till 2024. This is to keep the Kabul regime stable and the ‘Bonn process’ on course but also in connection with the strategic interests of the US in the region, namely, Iran, Central Asia, China and increasingly Pakistan. (…)

In the wake of the unprecedented growth in the urban population, the existing system of citizen participation has been found ineffective in providing equal opportunities to all people to participate in the process of urban governance. Unlike rural areas, urban areas have two-tier system of local self-governance, that is, munici-pality and wards. The representation ratio (population per elected representative) in urban areas is very high. In Bhopal city, according to Census 2011, a Councillor (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Finnish Lessons – What can the World learn from Educational Change in Finland? by Pasi Sahlberg; published by Teachers College, Columbia University, New York and London; pp. 165; 2011.
Finland, a tiny country of 5.5 million people in North Europe and belonging to the Nordic group of countries, has become a role model for social cohesion and solidarity and rapid economic and technological development. Nokia, a Finish company, has become the leader of mobile phones all over (…)

by Kamalakanta Roul
Introduction
The stereotypical understanding of the terms decency and violence has been brought into a comprehensive application for public discourse. Decency and violence are interlinked components whereas the youth community acts as the link-pin between them. The notion of the state has been explored in this broad paradigm of debate to show how these aforesaid components are enmeshed with the state’s structure of system as unit. The interface of decency, violence, (…)

Dear Reader,
Mainstream first appeared fifty years ago—on September 1. 1962. The first issue contained, besides a letter from the editor (C.N. Chitta Ranjan) to the reader “Demolishing the Wall”, regular columns—New Delhi Skyline, the Week, Economic Notebook—and several articles (‘Taxes and Disparities’ by V.K.R.V. Rao, ‘The Truth About DMK’ by S. Mohan Kumaramangalam, ‘New Tasks in Agriculture’ by Bhowani Sen, ‘Monopoly Trends in the Press’ by J.P. Chaturvedi, and ‘Winds of Change Over (…)

For a week now the monsoon session of Parliament has been stalled by the principal Opposition party, the BJP, which is demanding in both the Houses that the PM should own up his moral responsibility for ‘Coalgate’ and tender his resignation before it allows the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to function. This appears to be an over-reaction to the CAG report on the coal scam and there is much strength in the argument that by resorting to such tactics the party is, consciously or unwittingly, (…)

The 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has kick-started at Tehran amid an intense debate about the Movement‘s relevance after the end of the Cold War and bipolar world. The media and public discourse about the NAM’s utility and relevance has intensified in the backdrop of stiff US opposition to the Movement as a whole and questioning Tehran’s right to host it in particular.
When you look back at the more than five-decade-old history of the NAM, you will find that the US was (…)

by Sudhanshu Tripathi
The successful inauguration of the Non-Aligned Summit at Tehran proves once again the underlying spirit of unity among its member nations, though it has yet to deal with the prevailing serious challenges in the form of hyperpower or superpower dominance through military interventions, economic sanctions or other coercive means against the spirit of the United Nations Charter.
The ongoing 16th Non-Aligned Summit, which opened in Tehran on August 26, is certainly a (…)

by Arup Kumar Deka
From the third week of July, western Assam has been witnessing violent clashes between the Bodos and non-Bodos living in the Bodo Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD) area. The spate of violence has led to the killing of more than 73 persons; 47 lives in worst-hit Kokrajhar district, 17 in Chirang, four in Dhubri; besides five were killed in police firing. However, the numbers of people killed are increasing as the violence has not come to an end. The violence unfolded (…)