Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Jagjit Singh Anand—Symbol of Progressive Journalism in Punjab

  11 July 2015, by Chaman Lal

  TRIBUTE
  On June 2, 2013, Jagjit Singh Anand completed 50 years as the editor of the Punjabi daily Nawan Zamana, published from Jalandhar. Perhaps few have achieved this feat. Two years later, on June 19, 2015, Anand passed away as the editor of the publication at the age of 93 years plus.
  Anand was born on December 28, 1921 in a well-known family of that time in district Amritsar. His father, Headmaster Mehtab Singh, was a well-known Sikh scholar. His elder brother, Pritam Singh Safeer, (…)

• India-Pakistan: No Communication Is No Policy

  11 July 2015

  by Vinay Kaura
  “God has placed us in a position in which we are prevented by our neighbours from slipping into dullness and inertia.” Had these words not been spoken by the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in the Reichstag in 1888, they could well have been spoken by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. Having spent one year in office, Modi may have realised that his government’s Pakistan policy has not been a success story: it has failed to achieve anything substantial in (…)

• India’s Soft Power in Central Asia: Why it Must Act on the Look North Policy

  11 July 2015

  by Ramakrushna Pradhan
  This July visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Central Asia is of paramount importance for both regions because of several reasons: the first is to give India a substantial footprint on the hydrocarbon map of the region; to check and counter Pakistan’s strident Islamist agenda against India; to keep a tab on drug trafficking and potential weapon proliferation in this region; to promote India’s interests in the commercial arena and to garner support for the country’s (…)

• Two Poems

  11 July 2015, by Badri Raina

  Vyapam
  That you can smile and smilw and be a villain (Hamlet)
  People die all the time; it is The way of all flesh. So what does it matter how they Died, or continue to die. Such silly things cannot possibly Occupy the attention of the highest In the government, not to speak Of the routine little corruptions That may have informed some Murderous intent. What is of Greater danger to the country Is the sad fact that the media Should suddenly become so Vociferous a participant in An (…)

• Lalitgate and Vyapam: Whither BJP?

  6 July 2015, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  Whether it was a broad hint or an unambiguous message, BJP patriarch L.K.Advani’s recollection of what he himself had done when his name cropped up in the Jain-hawala scam was sufficient indication that he desired the party leaders occupying major constitutional posts—notably those of External Affairs Minister (Sushma Swaraj) and Rajasthan Chief Minister (Vasundhara Raje)—to quit their respective offices until their names were cleared of charges of serious ethical impropriety. (…)

• Party with a Difference

  6 July 2015, by Badri Raina

  All along we have been under the impression that what makes the Bharatiya Janata Party a party with a difference is its ideological commitment to Hindu nationalism. Turns out this is only one part of its USP. A second and potentially equally consequential feature, especially noteworthy now that the party occupies state power, is its ability to filibuster any sort of fact out of existence. And without the least embarrassment.
  Arguably, of course, the two specialities are closely linked in (…)

• Praful Bidwai is No More: Rest in Peace, Comrade

  6 July 2015

  Tribute
  Praful Bidwai is no more. He died in Amsterdam on Tuesday evening (June 23, 2015) due to a cardiac arrest,
  With his death we have lost the ‘best Left-wing journalist’ in this part of South Asia whose articles appeared in many newspapers and magazines in the subcontinent and in the Middle East and was frequently published by The Guardian,Le Monde Diplomatique as well.
  Praful will be missed by thousands and thousands of his readers (this pen-pusher included) who were ‘groomed’ by (…)

• Hindutva-Capitalism takes power / Attacks on Activists speak of Pathological Intolerance / Challenges before Yechury / Bengal Local Poll Results . . .

  6 July 2015

  Four articles by Praful Bidwai from 2014 - 2015

• MLAs pass Laws to put themselves Above the Law—Our Democracy is Only for the Pappu Yadavs

  6 July 2015, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  We can sing hallelujahs for democracy all our lives, but democracy will remain a system where some people are more equal than others. We don’t have to look at the magical life of Lalit Modi to see this reality. Look at Pappu Yadav.
  On a flight from Patna to Delhi, he refused to switch off his mobile phone, refused to put his seat upright for landing, threw food in the aisle and threatened the cabin crew with his chappal. Can any of us get away with such behaviour? Pappu Yadav (…)

• Sun Sets on the British Empire

  6 July 2015, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  When we were young, our school-books said: “The sun never sets on the British Empire”—that meant whichever way you turned the globe, a piece of British Empire could be seen on the map. This week, in an extravaganza resembling a Hollywood premiere, the exit of the British Empire from the last piece of territory outside Britain was shown on the sovereignty of Hong Kong having been resumed to the People’s Republic of China as the Prince of Wales with his faithful (…)