Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Hindutva, the Asiatic Mode of Production and Indian Revolution

  15 August 2014

  by Murzban Jal
  Finally, in the struggle against the revolution, the parliamentary republic found itself compelled to streng-then, along with the repressive powers,the resourcesand centralisation of governmental power. All revolutions perfected this machine instead of smashing it. The parties that contended in turn for domination regarded the possession of this huge state edifice as the principal spoils of the victor. But under the absolute monarchy, during the first Revolution, under (…)

• Slow and Steady Destruction of Togetherness

  15 August 2014, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  Last week I was in Uttar Pradesh. And I saw and sensed communal politics at its peak. Citizens, cutting across communities and castes, sat apprehensive and worried. It was more than writ large that the BJP and Right-wing outfits are spreading poison, dividing people on religious and caste lines. Though these divisions have been ongoing right from the early nineties but now this poison is getting unleashed right into rural belts, under all possible garbs and ploys and (…)

• In India—and in No Other Country—Rape is Justified by Home Ministers, MPs, Casteists. It’s our Shame

  15 August 2014, by T J S George

  IMPRESSIONS
  In this season of rape...ugh, what a miserable way to start a column! If only we could say instead: "In this land of milk and honey where the sun shines equally on all and the birds..." But that would be false. In our country the sun shineth the way rain raineth. The rain it raineth on the just/And also on the unjust fella/But chiefly on the just, because/The unjust have the just’s umbrella. Brutality hits both men and women, but chiefly women because men have the backing of (…)

• Relevance of Article 370 in the Indian Constitution

  15 August 2014, by Pramothes Mukherjee

  The BJP has been brought to power at the Centre by the Indian corporates in place of the Congress-led UPA-2, which is a decaying force, to extend the capitalist rule of the Indian neo-liberal exploitative system. Narendra Modi, the head of the BJP’s National Campaign Committee, as chosen by the RSS, had been fielded in this battle as an Iron Man or Vikash Purush. The centre-stage was set by the BJP/RSS and their allies of the bourgeois ruling class with the following demands:
  a) The (…)

• Elites as the Economic Problem

  15 August 2014

  BOOK REVIEW
  by G. Omkarnath
  Indian Economy since Independence: Persisting Colonial Disruption by Arun Kumar; Vision Books, New Delhi; pp. xxiv + 792 (hardbound); price: Rs 1450.
  At the turn of the new millennium, the Indian economy has attracted scholarly atte-ntion for two distinct reasons. First, there is the natural urge to assess its place and potential in the face of major shifts in global polity and economy. The collapse of the Soviet block, the phoenix-like rise of China and a (…)

• Assam’s Cultural Guru Jyoti Prasad Agarwala: A Symbol of Patriotism and National Integration

  15 August 2014

  by Pranjit Agarwala
  Jyoti Prasad Agarwala (1903-1951) is revered as the cultural guru of Assam. He brought about a renaissance in Assamese literature and culture which helped establish its own identity as a separate language and not as an off-shoot of the Bengali language and culture. In 1935 he pioneered the Assamese film industry by making the first Assamese film Joymoti. His dramas, poems, short stories, journalistic writings, songs and music have inspired generations not only in Assam (…)

• The Idea of Partition Recedes in Shadows

  15 August 2014, by Kuldip Nayar

  India’s independence or the migration of Hindus and Muslims on the basis of religion is as old as fiftyseven years. I remember leaving my home in Sialkot city on August 14 itself because the new state of Pakistan did not enter-tain non-Muslims, just as East Punjab did not want any Muslim in their midst. I heard Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous ‘tryst’ speech in Pakistan itself at my home town, Sialkot.
  However, I crossed the border only on September 17, thirtytwo days after independence. By then, (…)

• Modi’s Visit to Nepal: An Assessment

  15 August 2014

  by Sangeeta Thapliyal
  India’s relations with Nepal got a new fillip with Prime Minister Modi’s visit on August 3, this month. Modi’s popularity had cut across party lines in Nepal. He reached out to the common man. ‘Mayavi Modi’,‘Modimay Nepal’ were the expressions used by media to describe this phenomenon.
  There was a media hype in both India and Nepal that an Indian Prime Minister was visiting Nepal after a gap of 17 years. The last 17 years in Nepal had seen political instability due (…)

• On SC Judge’s Views

  15 August 2014, by S G Vombatkere

  COMMUNICATION
  Supreme Court judge A.R. Dave opines that children imbibing Ramayana and Mahabharata and reverting to the guru-shishya parampara will make society less violent. This is disputable, besides possibly violating the secular character of India.
  But the learned judge saying, ”Had I been the dictator of India, I would have...” betrays a deplorable lack of the democratic spirit enshrined in the Constitution. Perhaps he has forgotten that he has sworn to ”bear true faith and (…)

• Light and Dark

  8 August 2014, by SC

  EDITORIAL
  On August 1, US Secretary of State John Kerry called on PM Narendra Modi in the Capital and pointed out that the failure to clinch the trade facilitation deal at WTO “undermines” the NDA Government’s pro-business image. In reply the PM underlined that his first responsibility was to the “poorest of the country”. Thereafter he elaborated:
  I am more concerned about the small Indian farmer... The needs of those living on the margins of society not just in India but elsewhere too, (…)