Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Secularism on Trial

  19 October 2015, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  We as a nation are proud of the fact that we are a secular democracy. The test of our secularism does not consist in our protestations, however loud these may be, but in the manner we conduct ourselves towards the minorities who live and toil in this far-flung Republic of ours. Not only have we as a nation to ensure security to the minorities but should be able to instil into them a sense of security through our conduct. It is this challenge the nation faces today. (…)

• Lessons from Meerut

  19 October 2015, by V R Krishna Iyer

  V.R. Krishna Iyer, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and Home Minister in the CPI-led government in Kerala (1957-59), visited in 1982 Meerut where communal tension had been persisting for over two months. On his return, Justice Krishna Iyer wrote a letter to P.C. Sethi, the Home Minister, Government of India, giving his impressions and suggestions. He forwarded a copy of this letter to the Prime Minister of India, with the observation: “After all, the integrity of the nation, the (…)

• India-Bangladesh: Reviewing the Enclave Exchange

  19 October 2015

  by Saumitra Mohan
  Boundaries between nation-states are reflections of the interplay of the forces of history, politics and wars but oftentimes they could be simply a manifestation of a shoddy and hasty job as transpired in the wake of the recommen-dations of the Boundary Commission led by Sir Cyril Radcliffe. The malformed borders between India and Pakistan became a curse for the people living in the enclaves between India and Pakistan or Bangladesh since 1971. Even though the enclave (…)

• Refugee Influx in Europe

  19 October 2015

  by M.C. Pindwal
  India is a house of multiple religions and faiths followed by a heterogeneous mixture of believers of various sects that flourish together with a sense of tolerance whereas this kind of tolerance is hardly visible in Europe as most of them do not like other nationalities to come and settle there as they would eat into their cake. On this account they do not like even their temporary stay as they have spilled over into Germany and other European countries by crossing their (…)

• Influx of Refugees and Humanitarian Crisis in Europe

  19 October 2015, by Sheetal Sharma

  The ugly face of human tragedy was unfolded when the world saw shocking images of the lifeless body of three-year-old Syrian boy, Alyanc Kurdi. Alyan’s five-year-old brother Galip, and mother Rehan, aged 35, too met the same fate along with other twelve Syrian refugees as their boat capsized while attempting to reach the Greek Island of Kos. The pictures of the toddler went viral on the net, and appeared in the newspapers the world over. The pictures were distressing and caused outrage at (…)

• Girls who Demanded Adequate Teachers in School Lathi-charged, Injured

  19 October 2015

  COMMUNICATION
  At a time when the government is supposed to be committed to implementing the Right to Education legislation, students, particularly girl students, of a school in Tonk district of Rajasthan were brutally lathi-charged by the police on September 30. Seven girls got painful injuries and the condition of one of them was specially serious after vomiting blood.
  A senior secondary school in Chauru village has 22 posts of teachers but only seven of them had been filled. Students, (…)

• Is Untouchability in India Created by Islam?

  19 October 2015

  by Kancha Ilaiah and Mohasina Anjum Ansari
  Unouchability is a major social issue in India, even in the modern times. In the recent past it had also become an international issue. In 2001 at the United Nation’s Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia, held at Durban, a major discussion on caste and untouchability in South Asia took place. Several Indian organisations were pleading with the UN to recognise human untouchability as problem of international importance like (…)

• Bose unnecessarily Maligned

  19 October 2015, by Kuldip Nayar

  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has done well to declassify the files on Subhas Chandra Bose. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have followed suit and made available to the public the documents and papers which the Centre possesses on Bose.
  While declassifying 64 files comprising 12,744 pages, the Chief Minister informed the media that documents proved that the Bose family was spied upon. “It’s proven...I will only say it is unfortunate,” Banerjee said. The first disclosures (…)

• Whiplash for the Union Government

  19 October 2015

  by Sadhan Mukherjee
  There seems to be no political leadership worth the name in the country today despite the massive majority of the present ruling dispensation, the NDA 2. The whoopla of 2014 is over. Non-performance is at the core of every sector of governmental activity. There may be many well-meaning Ministers but hardly any-one appears capable of handling the bureaucrats. PM Narendra Modi perhaps is the only one who can dictate and his words seem to be law. But he is busy with his (…)

• All the Turpentines in the World Cannot Remove Kulkarni’s Stain

  19 October 2015, by M K Bhadrakumar

  Seldom does adrenaline flow so instinctively the moment one begins reading the morning newspapers in the Indian Capital, but today is one such day. I am not entitled to claim friendship with Sudheendra Kulkarni but do have an acquaintance going back by several years. I hold him in high esteem as an intellectual and a humanist.
  I am unable to read the newspapers anymore today. Can’t simply get past the blackened picture of Kulkarni, smeared with oil paint. I feel numbed with pain as the (…)