2018

by Santosh Kumar Biswal
Following the suit of actress Alyssa Milano in response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood, And #MeToo movement has arrived in India. Actress Tanushree Dutta’s allegation has created commotion, taking actor, filmmaker, writer and philanthropist Nana Patekar’s reputation at stake. Moreover, in the wake of the movement, the Minister of State for External Affairs, M.J. Akbar, has stepped down and readied himself for a legal battle against the accused. The (…)

by Vijay Kumar
The majority judgment in the Aadhar case represents triumph of expediency, whereas the dissenting judgment delivered by Justice Chandrachud is extremely liberating and will go down in history as one of the most celebrated dissents.
The Aadhar and its mandatory insistence became an all-pervasive reality, particularly after its enactment in 2016. The stay granted by the Supreme Court by the Bench of Justice Chelameswar was intentionally flouted by the Modi Government with (…)

The 104th birth anniversary of the legendary Communist parliamentarian Bhupesh Gupta fell on October 20, 2018. On this occasion we have reproduced in this issue the tribute to Bhupesh Gupta by N.C. that was published in Mainstream’s August 22, 1981 issue. Bhupesh was born at Itna in Mymensingh district of Bengal (now in Bangladesh) on October 20, 1914 and he passed away in Moscow on August 6, 1981.
From N.C.’s Writings
To write about somebody whom one has known for more than four (…)

by K. Saradamoni
The floods in Kerala just before the State’s widely known festival of Onam appear to have subsided. But the havoc these caused will take a long time to be resolved. The government and people, including young adults, responded with concern and determination. Both money and materials, including food, medicines and other essential articles, poured in.The Chief Minister’s Relief Fund received generous support from many sources outside the State and also the country. The (…)

COMMUNICATION
There have been several reports in recent times that the serious situation of drinking water scarcity is being aggravated in many areas due to the liquor industry.
A report in India Today (October 15, 2010) by Kiran Tare on the serious water scarcity in Marathwada region says: “Indiscriminate release of water for sugarcane cultivation and alcohol production has depleted the (water) reservoirs. There are some 200 distilleries in Aurangabad, which use enormous quantities of (…)

by Ghazala Wahab
The following is the article that appeared in The Wire giving details of the experiences of a young journalist, Ghazala Wahab, who worked in the New Delhi office of The Asian Age (1994-97) when M.J. Akbar was the editor of the publication. Several women journalists working under Akbar had penned their similar experiences; however, Ghazala’s was the most detailed account of what she experienced there. It could not be used last week due to space constraints. Akbar’s (…)

MUSINGS
Frustrated lot, the rulers of the day can do no better than to go hacking names of our cities and villages and roads! Plucking off the traditional names. Planting new names to further the chaos unleashed by third-class governance tactics.
Re-naming Allahabad to Prayagraj could just be the start. News reports bare the future disasters awaiting to unfold. Political perverts’ narrow-mindedness peaking to such an extent that they do not wish to hear or see or even glance at any of (…)

by Pandurang Vombatkere
We roamed this earth once wild and free,
We lived on fruits and wild honey
And meat and nuts and roots and leaves;
We prospered from Nature’s bounty.
Then we grew clever and used our hands,
No more wandering in forest lands;
We grew our crops and reared our beasts —
This was the end of our nomadic bands.
In time we created wondrous things,
To ease our lives and swell our stores,
And as we grew there began a strife
That became for us a way of (…)

EDITORIAL
As we go to press news has just come that Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar—who went on an overdrive on his return to India (following a prolonged trip to Africa) on Sunday (October 14) to attack the women journalists who had levelled serious charges on him of sexual assault, file a defamation case against one of them as he remained completely unconcerned over the scores of women journalists coming out with their sordid experiences of working under the celebrated (…)

by Ram Puniyani
We live in a democratic society where all of us are supposed to be equal. In pre-industrial society the inequality was very much there and it was based on birth. In Indian society this inequality, the one based on birth, pertained to caste and gender. Leftovers of this inequality are very much there even in today’s society. One aspect of this has been pertaining to entry of women in places of worship. In most of the mosques, it’s predominantly men who pray to the Allah. In (…)