Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Test of Democratic Values

  12 May 2014, by Kuldip Nayar

  I get many telephone calls almost every day from Pakistan and a few from Bangladesh to inquire about the polling in the Lok Sabha elections. Their fear is that Narendra Modi might be India’s next Prime Minister and destroy the democratic polity which they envy. I hope Modi does not head the next government.
  True, most opinion polls give the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP and Modi, a clear majority. But their tally is unreliable because there is not even a ripple, much (…)

• Rural Reconstruction and Education — Tagore’s Views

  12 May 2014

  [May 9 this year, that is, Baisakh 25, 1421 (Bengali calendar), marks Rabindranath Tagore’s 153rd birth anniversary. On this occesion we are publishing the following piece and reproducing an article by N.C. that appeared in a special commemorative supplement of The Calcutta Muncipal Gazette (published on September 13, 1941, more than a month after Tagore’s demise).]
  by Jayanta Ghosal
  Having grown up in an atmosphere of patriotism and nationalism in the family, Rabindranath was naturally (…)

• The Legacy for Tomorrow

  12 May 2014, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  From N.C.’s Writings
  Lenin once asked a group of Soviet students as to whom they regarded as the greatest literary figure of Russia. “Mayakovsky,” they replied. “Yes, but what about Pushkin?” asked Lenin, and added, “Could there have been a Mayakovsky without a Pushkin?” A hundred years from today the people would speak of Tagore in the same way and with more truth. At the moment we are too near to his personality to fully appraise its greatness. You cannot size up a Titan when you stand (…)

• Too many as Primus Inter Pares

  12 May 2014

  by Mouli Dey
  The following piece was written and sent to us sometime ago but could not be used earlier due to unavoidable reasons. However, despite some of the contents of the article being dated, the piece still retains its validity in essence; it is thus being used here.
  Who should rule the country following the 2014 Lok Sabha elections? This is a question which might crop up in the mind of any individual citizen of India eligible to exercise the right of universal adult suffrage. (…)

• Defeat of Neo-liberalism will be the True Tribute to Sunil

  12 May 2014, by Prem Singh

  Sathi Sunil is no more. He had a sudden brain hemorrhage and lost consciousness. After four days of struggling with death in that condition, he eventually passed away on of April 21, 2014. For years Sunil had been wanting to travel the country to raise awareness among the people about socialism. This wish of his could not be realised, and Time claimed him as his own co-traveller!
  Sunil’s last rites were conducted the next day in Delhi itself. Condolence meetings were conducted for him at (…)

• Tribute to Sunil

  12 May 2014

  by S.N. Sahu
  Sunil Gupta deleted his surname to discard primordial identity of caste and displayed rare heroism in life in harnessing his academic insights and human capabilities for positive and constructive social change. He passed away at the age of 54 in which people look forward to lead a happy and prosperous life. It was no age to die. His life has been snatched away from us by unforeseen ailments which caused serious damage to his brain.
  He combined the excellence of a great human (…)

• How and Why Russia is Using Energy Weapon on Ukraine

  12 May 2014

  by R. G. Gidadhubli
  On April 17, 2014, the agreement reached at the Geneva meeting of representatives of the USA, EU, Ukraine and Russia offered a landmark hope of de-escalation of the Ukrainian crisis even under the prevailing sustained unrest by protestors at Euromaidan in Kiev and by pro-Russian separatists threatening civil war in the Eastern Ukrainian cities, namely, Kharkov, Donetsk etc. As an act of protest, while the NATO has already suspended cooperation with Moscow after Russia (…)

• A Clash of Two Worldviews: West - Russia Conflict on Ukraine

  12 May 2014

  by N. V. K. Murthy
  To understand the conflict between the West and Russia on the Ukraine problem, one has to go back to the beginning of the 20th century, or even earlier—to the last decades of the 19th century. When England was in the throes of the industrial revolution, and capitalism was developing fast, a German intellectual, named Karl Marx, was working on his famous book called Das Capital in the British Museum Library. Karl Marx and his collaborator and patron, Frederick Engles, (…)

• Political Crystal Ball-gazing or Whither 16th Parliament?

  12 May 2014, by S G Vombatkere

  When I proposed writing this piece even before polling for the 16th Parliament is concluded, a friend asked if it would not be wiser to await the outcome on May 16, 2014. Perhaps he is correct. But on the other hand, there are some benefits of “thinking through” or anticipating events, even if based upon gazing into a political crystal ball.
  16th Parliament
  By all indications, the ongoing general elections will see the decimation of the INC as a result of the anti-incumbency factor, the (…)

• Six Questions for Narendra Modi

  12 May 2014, by Shamsul Islam

  Narendra Modi, the BJP’s nominee for prime-ministership, dreams of ruling the Indian polity which is constitutionally based on the principles of democracy, secularism, federalism, socialism and justice. However, there is going to be a serious conflict of interests between the above mentioned fundamental principles of the Indian polity and Modi’s worldview which is controlled and dictated by the RSS, the most prominent protagonist of the politics of Hindutva. It is a critical issue as Modi (…)