Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• To Hoodwink and Much More

  7 December 2014, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  Lately this particular news report has hit: 53 per cent of the prison population in India is that of Muslims, Dalits and tribals. Shocking! For two reasons—for one, these three communities are the most disadvantaged and stand deprived on every possible front. And then, these high numbers of the imprisoned Muslims and Dalits and tribals do not stand proportionate with their population— the population of the Muslims and Dalits and tribals is 39 per cent in the country, whilst those (…)

• His Master’s Voices: They Are Loud

  7 December 2014, by Badri Raina

  Ah, those cocksure voices on prime time, strident and self-righteous in their condemnation of whatever be politically out of season—most of all, even the least suggestion that what is with nauseating insistence peddled as the “national interest” may at bottom comprise merely the greedy vision hugged by a minuscule Indian neo-upper class. And the cussed temerity of those who refuse to conform and say an instant “yes” to what is blared from the big-brotherly megaphone in sickening, filmy (…)

• West Bengal: Khagragarh Blast — A New Challenge for Security and Harmony

  7 December 2014, by Pramothes Mukherjee

  Burdwan Episode
  The of grenade explosion in the first floor of a rented house at Khagragarh in West Bengal’s Burdwan town on October 2, 2014, in between the Durga Puja and Iduzzuha festivals, is alarming for many obvious reasons. The two persons killed in the blast, identified as Shakil Ahmed alias Shakil Gazi and Swapan alias Sovan Mandal, are believed to have links with the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen of Bangladesh. Their widows—Gulshana Bibi alias Rajia, Shakil’s wife, and Alima Bibi alias (…)

• State Terrorism

  7 December 2014

  by Shahnawaz Mantoo
  Terrorism is not new and it has been used since the beginning of recorded history. Terrorism is the most hated and feared term with its different manifestations. It is very difficult to define it precisely but there are some definitions which have been put forward by different recognised voices as well as by related and accepted organisations. Terrorism has been described variously as a tactic and strategy, a crime and a justified reaction to oppression. Obviously a lot (…)

• Road to Dhaka ; Bright or Ugly?

  7 December 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  The PM has returned after attending the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu. Against this backdrop it is worthwhile to recall the past. In this context we reproduce two pieces by N.C.—both ‘Editor’s Notebook’ published in this journal in 1985: one before the First SAARC Summit in Dhaka in December of the year and the other after that Summit.
  Road to Dhaka
  The journey to the Geneva Summit (November 19-21, 1985) was arduous, and the trek itself was hazardous. But both (…)

• Tapan Raychaudhuri (1926-2014)

  7 December 2014

  TRIBUTES Two of his students offer their tributes to the distinguished historian, Tapan Raychaudhuri.
  by Rudrangshu Mukherjee
  Tapan Raychaudhuri died peacefully in Oxford on the night of Wednesday, November 26. He was born in 1926 in Barisal in what is now Bangladesh. He will be mourned across the globe by his many students, his admirers and by all those who enjoyed his and his wife Hashi’s outstanding hospitality and affection. The word ’affection’ is used advisedly, since the (…)

• President’s Message

  7 December 2014

  The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, has condoled the passing away of leading historian, Prof Tapan Raychaudhuri. In a condolence message to his wife, Pratima Raychaudhuri, he said:
  “I am extremely saddened to learn about the passing away of Prof Tapan Raychaudhuri.
  “Prof Raychaudhuri was one of India’s foremost economic and social historians, well known for his penetrating mind and deep insight into British Indian history, India’s economic history and the history of Bengal. For (…)

• Master Raconteur

  7 December 2014

  by Shahid Amin
  Born into a landed family in present-day Bangladesh, Tapan Raychauduri, one of the top historians of modern South Asia, succumbed to a second cerebral stroke in Oxford, the English University town where he was a Professor of Indian History and Civilisation and Emeritus Fellow, St. Antony’s College.
  Trained under Sir Jadunath Sarkar, the founder of modern historiography in India, Raychaudhuri earned his laurels early. At 25 he had already pocketed a D.Phil degree from (…)

• Value of Toleration in these Intolerant Times

  7 December 2014

  by Shruti Sharma
  The recent controversy of Shankracharya versus Shirdi Sai Baba has led to various actions and reactions. The controversy has been that the Dwarka Shankaracharya, Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, claimed that Sai Baba of Shirdi is not a Hindu God. He is not mentioned in the shastras and Vedas and Hindus must not worship him. He described the Sai Baba as a Muslim ascetic. This led to protests by the Sai Baba believers. There has been the burning of the effigy of (…)

• Baritone Voice is Silent—Values Remain

  7 December 2014, by Mahendra Ved

  TRIBUTE
  Arun Roy Choudhury, veteran journalist and social activist, who passed away at 87 in Mumbai on November 24 after prolonged illness, would be remembered by friends and well-wishers for the good that he thought of and the good turns he did for them. That is saying a lot about a man in present times.
  Younger people, among them journalists N. R. Mohanty, Kay Benedict, Ravi Dayal and this writer, who addressed him as Arunda, or just Dada, have numerous stories to relate about his (…)