2019

The Union Budget 2019-20 is a full Budget in spite of the title of Interim Budget. The convention is that it should have been a Vote on Account to carry on the business of government for a few months till the full Budget is presented by the new government in July. However, nothing stops a government from using the occasion to make announcements that may help the ruling party to win the coming elections. The present dispensation is in need of a please-all Budget since its recent showing at (…)

by S.S. Sangwan
As usual, the Budget of 2019-20 is a political Budget just three months prior to the 17th lok Sabha elections. After defeat in three States, the first pro-poor compulsion of the government was the constitutional amendment for 10 per cent reservation in educational institutions and government services for the EWS in the general category. The lacklustre attitude of the government and even the Congress stems from the limit of upto Rs 8 lakhs for the EWS and it may prove to be (…)

by L.K. Sharma
Jaati na poocho sadhu ki, pooch leejiye gyan”, sang India’s saint-poet Kabir. (Do not judge a saint by his caste, imbibe his knowledge). However, the most-asked question in an Indian election is about the candidate’s caste. Political analysts ask it, poll strategists ask it, and the voters ask it. The caste-related issues, appearing frivolous to outsiders, are debated seriously in the TV shows and newspaper articles during an election season. Such weird identity-politics is (…)

by Kamal Singh, Indervir Singh and Chaman Lal
The Supreme Court of India in its recent decision upholds the verdict of the Allahabad High Court regarding reservation in the University. As per the decision, while applying the reservation roaster, the Department would be considered as a unit, not the University. This ruling would have far-reaching negative consequences for the aspirants from reserved categories seeking faculty positions in institutions of higher learning.
This decision (…)

by Suraj Sharma
The following is a contribution from a government servant writing under a pseudonym. It was written sometime ago last year but its contents still retain their validity.
Experience has shown that the Indian citizens cannot expect visionary and honest political leadership either from the NDA/UPA or any other coalition. All of them have the same character and corrupt tendencies..
The present age is known as Kaliyuga or the era of Kali. The characteristics of this era are: (…)

by Archishman Raju
The American writer, James Baldwin, once remarked: “History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.”. The situation in front of us in Venezuela is a reminder of a history that we have seen (…)

COMMUNICATION
Born in Karnataka, George Fernandes will always be remembered as one of the Mohicans of the anti-Emergency movement in India. His historic leadership in the nationwide rail strike made him an icon of the Indian working class movement, especially among the Indian railwaymen constituting the world’s largest public sector unit. He was one of the first to be arrested by the Indira Gandhi Government when the Emergency was declared on and from June 26, 1975. He was arrested on that (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
The following lines were written by N.C. twentyfour years ago and published in this journal’s February 18, 1995 issue. It is being reproduced on the occasion of the distinguished revolutionary Kalpana Dutt’s twentyfourth death anniversary which fell on February 8 this year. It came and went with hardly anyone remembering her on that day. Kalpana’s birth centenary on July 27, 2013 also went virtually unnoticed. But we in Mainstream have decided to offer our homage to (…)

by Nilofar Suhrawardy
Naseeruddin Shah has his right to entertain the reservations he has expressed regarding the “fear” entertained about their religious identity by certain Muslims. In his words, he feels “anxious” for his children, for “if tomorrow a mob surrounds them and asks them are you Hindu or Muslim?, they will have no answer.” But it would be wrong to assume that this “fear” prevails among the entire community of Indian Muslims. In fact, the probability of it prevailing amongst (…)

EDITORIAL
As we prepare to celebrate our seventieth Republic Day on January 26 this year, a grim situation stares us in the face now that we are approaching our next general elections within a short span of time.
The poll bugle has already been sounded by both the Opposition parties and the ruling BJP and it appears that it would be a no-holds-barred election campaign this time. If the mega-rally by practically all the Opposition parties held precisely a week before the Republic Day in (…)