2020

by Prof. Atanu Sengupta, Dr. Sanjoy De, Dr. Anirban Hazra, Ujjwal Seth
Introduction
“….indeed, nothing was to be seen but waggons and carts, with goods, women, servants, children, &c.; coaches filled with people of the better sort and horsemen attending them, and all hurrying away;” A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel, Defoe (1722)
Man has long experience of epidemics in the past (The Black Death in Europe, the Great Bubonic Plague, the 1918 Bombay Spanish flu and many more). (…)

by Atanu Sengupta and Asish Kumar Pal
Abstract: As we have already acknowledged that India is developing economy, it is stated as an economy passing through demand depression and high unemployment. With an increasing number of coronavirus case, they government has lockdown transport services, closed all economy without some some necessary and urgent sectors, factories, public and private offices and restricted mobilisation. No doubt it would slowdown the supply side. At the time of boro (…)

The post-pandemic media scene is grim, with fewer jobs and shrinking spaces to report without fear
by Kalpana Sharma
April 23, 2020
When journalists and journalism become the news, we need to be concerned.
In the course of the last 72 hours, three journalists in Kashmir have been slapped with cases, two under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for posts on social media and the other for reporting "factually incorrect" news.
While such cases and intimidation by the (…)

Date: 19/04/2020 To, Hon. Shri. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India Respected Sir, When the entire world is engaged in fighting the pandemic unleashed by the Corona Virus, the people of our country have responded with utmost commitment to the public appeals you made form time to time. 1. You did well in addressing the country three times for gearing India towards the fight against the pandemic. We feel distressed that in your appeals you chose to use the expression ’Social (…)

In his thought-provoking book, Gramsci, Culture and Anthropology (University of California Press, 2002), Kate Crehan reminded us that the Italian Marxist thinker, Antonio Gramsci, posed the question of developing a “national-popular collective will” in the context of a Note “discussing the form a modern revolutionary movement should take”.
The paradox lies in the fact that the Hindu Right in contemporary India is trying to develop a “national-popular collective will”, which has distinct (…)

When we pay tributes to Lenin, we should not fail to think about ways to liberate people from all kinds of exploitations and enslavement.
April 22, 2020, marks the 150th birth anniversary of V I Lenin. He was one of the greatest theoreticians of Left politics after Karl Marx. He was an excellent strategist and tactician, who led the first socialist revolution in 1917, in Russia. He was the head of the first socialist country and founder of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Oshitipar Chokhe Firey Dekha Communist Jiban By Nitai Basu (Ganaudyog Prakashani, Kolkata Price Rs. 120.)
The author, Nitai Basu (full name Nityagopal Basu), was born in a rural middle class family in Khulna district (now in Bangladesh). He portrays a picture of the social life in rural Bengal in the 1930s. Most members of his family were freedom fighters. A book written by his father was proscribed by the British Government.
After reading up to Class V in his village (…)

Table of Contents - Mainstream’s Lockdown Edition no4 | April 18 LETTER TO THE READERS - COVID 19 Lockdown Edition No.4 Release Dr. G. N. Saibaba from Nagpur Central Jail Dr. Anand Teltumbde’s Arrest on Ambedkar Jayanti: A National Shame PUCL Statement on Rejection of the Petition filed by Gautam Navalakhs and Anand Teltumbde seeking time to Surrender Tripura CPIM’s ego throws 10,323 teachers in stress along with families | Prabhajyoti Roy Managing the Lockdown with a human face: the case (…)

The lockdown has been extended further on April 14, 2020 with the PM announcing it through his address to the nation on that day. Early next week, the Government is expected to allow partial resumption of economic activity. However, what needs to be understood is that the situation will not be anywhere near to normal even if the normal is finally lifted after May 3. In fact, reports in foreign newspapers present an alarming picture of the global situation with regard to the pandemic. Latest (…)

Committee for the Defence and Release of Dr. GN Saibaba 11th April 2020 Press Release
Over the last six years, the health of Dr. G. N. Saibaba, incarcerated in Nagpur Central Jail, has deteriorated alarmingly. Prof. Saibaba is a teacher of English at the University of Delhi and is a human rights activist. Due to post-polio residual paralysis of his lower limbs, he is over ninety percent physically disabled and wheelchair bound. Since incarceration, he has developed severe additional (…)