Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• What We Defend in Kashmir

  20 September 2015, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The following appeared fifty years ago as the editorial in the Annual Number of Mainstream 1965.
  The valiant defence of the Motherland by our armed forces as well as by the brave people of Jammu and Kashmir has inspired the nation. The grim determination of the people of this country not to rest till Pakistani aggression is completely vacated and it is ensured that there will be no recurrence of violation of our frontiers was fully reflected in the President’s (…)

• Triumph of Secularism

  20 September 2015, by G.M. Sadiq

  (Mainstream, Annual Number 1965)
  As the nation observes the fiftieth anniversary of the 1965 India-Pakistan war, we reproduce here two pieces that appeared in the Annual Number of Mainstream (which came out in September 1965).
  Twice during the last eighteen years, Kashmir has had to go through an ordeal of fire, an ordeal which no other part of our great country has had the misfortune to face. Pakistani rulers have not yet been able to get over their covetous greed and so the people of (…)

• A martyr is born . . .

  20 September 2015

  His name was Abhijit, the conqueror of the foe. And he has conquered death, for by giving his very life, he shall be remembered so long as the beauty of Kashmir shall endure, so long as patriotism shall be cherished as an abiding virtue.
  When Abhijit joined the Army in October 1963, it was not just the end of the quest for a career: for him it was exclusively a call of the motherland. The old father, the veteran of many a battle against the British rule, had himself offered to fight for (…)

• Shadow of 1965 War

  20 September 2015, by Kuldip Nayar

  Democracies celebrate Magna Carta, not war victory. Such actions only encourage Bonapartism and, in no way, strengthen the people’s say. I was dismayed to see a full-page advertisement in newspapers to commemorate the victory in the 1965 war against Pakistan. The advertisement said:
  “The Indo-Pak War of 1965, which began on 05 August and ended on 23 September, is one of the biggest tank battles since World War-II. Pakistan launched troops inside Kashmir under Operation Gibraltar in early (…)

• Bihar’s Momentous Onus

  20 September 2015, by Badri Raina

  How often in India’s ancient and more recent history have the people of Bihar played a decisive role? And thrown up men and women of great persipicacity and doggedness to stand before events and portents of grave consequence? Inumerable times, the evidence suggests.
  Another such time beckons the distinguished electorate of Bihar to a trial on behalf of the Republic. There are many who are busy to grab their allegiance, through means fair and foul, but one has the faith that such allegiance (…)

• Sangh’s Chessboard and Hostile Secular Forces

  20 September 2015

  by Arun Srivastava
  Nitish faces the most potentthreat of losing the crucial election to the Bihar Assembly from his secular friends than his communal adversaries. At a time when it appeared that Nitish was high and going great guns, came the psychological set back in the form of the Samajwadi Party refusing to contest the elections and withdrawing from the election arena.
  The justification cited by the Samajwadi leadership not to go to polls as alliance partner is indeed ridiculous. Ram (…)

• The Future of the Indian Republic

  20 September 2015, by Barun Das Gupta

  The Preamble to the Constitution says that India is a ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic`. The Preamble is part of the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution, which—as the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment in the Keshavananda Bharati case ordained—cannot be altered. It conceptualised the ‘basic structure doctrine’ and recognised the inherent power of the judiciary to review and, if necessary, strike down any amendment to the Constitution enacted by Parliament which seeks to (…)

• Religious Census data May Not Panic the Hindus

  20 September 2015, by John Dayal

  The senior journalist and raconteur A.J. Philip once bitingly wrote: “The population of Christians in the colony I and my wife lived in during our stay in Bhopal jumped up by 50 per cent when our first son was born.” They were, till then, the only Christians in the residential complex in the capital of Madhya Pradesh. That, in a nutshell, is what is meant by facts, statistics and lies.
  So there was nothing surprising at the response of the media when the government in a cryptic press note (…)

• Most Undemocratic Act

  20 September 2015, by Rajindar Sachar

  Haryana Chief Minister Khattar has come out with most undemocratic and unconsti-tutional legislation—changes in the Haryana Panchayat Act, namely, that the candidates keen on contesting the forthcoming gram panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad elections in Haryana will now have to produce their Class X certificates while women and SCs will need a Class VIII certificate to be eligible to contest.
  In unashamed defence of this most undemocratic step, the government is putting forth (…)

• Europe — Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: A Brief Overview of The Past 100 Years

  20 September 2015

  by Purusottam Bhattacharya
  Europe has been in the news of late-for the wrong reasons. The continent is afflicted with the constant threat of terrorist attacks some of which were witnessed in the recent past. The sovereign debt crisis, particularly involving Greece, has been continuing unabated though a temporary solution has recently been found. However the headline grabbing problem which has deprived many of the leaders of the European Union of their sleep is the massive influx of (…)