Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• The Burden of Inequity

  20 July 2014, by Badri Raina

  It is a marvel of nature that worthwhile people may be found in the most unlikely places.
  Take Mr Jaitley; civilised in demeanour, a sophisticated listener, quick on the uptake and sharp in repartee, adroit deployer of the well-timed witticism, unimpressed by raucous cheerleaders even if on his own side of the aisle, and, party Whip forbid, equipped to recognise merit on the other side, however reluctantly.
  Yet, alas, the travails of office and the mauling oppression of dry-as-dust. A (…)

• Neo-converts to Moditva and Flabbergasted Left-Liberals

  20 July 2014

  The following is a sequel to the author’s article on the Left-liberals’ approach to Moditva in the post-election scenario.
  by Biswajit Roy
  In a month after Narendra Modi’s advent to the South Block with Modified BJP gaining brute majority in Parliament, India has witnessed the gruesome killing of Mohsin Sadiq Shaikh by the Hindu Rashtra Sena in Pune, HRS-VHP attacks on Muslims in the region as well as the hounding of Modi’s social media critics by the police, in addition to increasing (…)

• Sufi Message of Universal Love as Reflected in Urdu Poetry

  20 July 2014

  by Naresh Nadeem
  It was a long time back when Pope Gregory VII compelled the German king, Henry IV (1050-1106), who acceded to the throne in 1084, to walk barefoot all the way from his kingdom to Canossa in snow and stand in waiting for three days outside the Pope’s grand mansion for an interview with him. This was even though King Henry III, the father of Henry IV, had played a key role in the accession of Hildebrand to the papal seat as Gregory VII.
  This was what went in history as the (…)

• Disturbing Trends in Governance — Timely Warning by Citizens’ Report

  20 July 2014, by Bharat Dogra

  The latest Citizens’ Report on Governance and Development prepared by the National Social Watch has drawn attention to several disturbing trends. The findings of this report are supported by a wealth of facts and figures.
  Parliament
  To start with, this report informs us—The nine sessions of Parliament during 2010-12 saw the Lok Sabha working for an average of less than four hours of work per day during its 227 sittings in 852 hours, that is, less than two-thirds of the scheduled six (…)

• Ukraine Crisis Continues

  20 July 2014, by Arun Mohanty

  The Ukrainian Government has been contin-uing punitive military operations in the rebellious south-east of the country for more than two months, and did not go for extending the ceasefire date in spite of the call by leaders of Germany, France and Russia. The initial talks in participation with former Ukrainian Presi-dent Leonid Kuchma, representing official Kiev, and well-known Ukrainian public figure Victor Medvedchuk, the leader of the “Ukrainian Choice“, representing the rebel side, were (…)

• Left Parties: Pragmatic or Dogmatic?

  20 July 2014

  This article was written before the final outcome of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
  by Ajay Gudavarthy
  In 2004 when UPA-I came into existence, the Left parties played a pivotal role in deciding the content of the Common Minimum Programme and pushing social welfare policies at the height of economic reforms. In fact, it was because of this continuous check of the Left Front with their outside support to the government that the Congress promulgated the much acclaimed MGNREGA that literally (…)

• Bombing of Gaza, Bengal Famine, Zohra Segal

  20 July 2014, by Humra Quraishi

  MUSINGS
  First things first. I can’t believe that we, human beings of this world, continue to sit like mute spectators as Israel continues pounding and bombing Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians. Not to overlook those thousands who are left homeless and penniless, wounded and orphaned.
  What about the United Nations and the connected international peace outfits! Weak and rather redundant they seem. No apparent outrage and no halting of the ongoing blatant killings of hapless (…)

• Sack him Immediately

  20 July 2014

  COMMUNICATION
  I am extremely disturbed that one Y. Sudershan Rao, who is reported to have extolled the caste system, has been appointed the chief of the ICHR recently. He feels that caste worked well. Indeed it worked well as the caste system with the help of religion could force a quarter of India’s population to a sub-human existence for centuries and even till date. He may be a beneficiary of the system, but he should know that caste is based on inequality and discrimi-nation; breeds (…)

• Corporate-friendly Bureaucracy

  20 July 2014

  COMMUNICATION
  with the BJP in power, it seems that the bureaucracy is becoming more corporate-friendly. It has advised the new Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister, Prakash Javadekar, to lift the ban on mining in forests and moratorium on new factories in heavily polluted industrial areas. Do the bureaucrats want to accelerate the pace of environmental destruction? How heavier do they want to pollute the already heavily polluted industrial areas? The Minister needs to be (…)

• Need to Support Doon Old Boys’ Campaign for Release / Better Treatment of Kobad Ghandy

  20 July 2014, by Bharat Dogra

  communication
  Kobad Ghandy, a highly learned scholar and a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), is at present imprisoned in Tihar jail. From his desolate jail-cell he has contributed several widely appreciated articles which have been published in the Mainstream.
  Kobad Ghandy was educated at the famous Doon School, Dehradun and St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Some of his former classmates at Doon School have got together to initiate a campaign for the release of Ghandy. (…)