Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Benazir Bhutto’s Magic Works

  3 November 2007, by M K Bhadrakumar

  By any reckoning, a very unusual moment comes when a politician is called upon to pass the test of public support under intense glare of the world community. For former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, October 18 posed one such dramatic test—crucial even by the extraordi-nary yardstick of her tumultuous life.
  She passed the test, as the bemused world stood by and curiously watched. She still possesses traces of that rare magic when a politician connects with the people, when a (…)

• Burma: The Glass Palace Prison

  3 November 2007, by Sagari Chhabra

  I had the privilege of living a few houses away from Aung San Suu Kyi onYangon’s University Avenue by Inya Lake, for several months. The sole reason for choosing my residence was I was hoping to meet or at least get a glimpse of the most famous political prisoner and proponent of non-violence, alive. On her sixtysecond birthday Aung San Suu Kyi had spent a total of eleven years, ten months and twentyseven days under house arrest, with short spells in which she was allowed to meet the people. (…)

• The Rizwanur Affair and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

  3 November 2007, by Amitava Mukherjee

  Although nothing should be predicted so far as the investigation into the tragic death of Rizwanur Rehman, the unfortunate young man from Kolkata, is concerned as the CBI has just started the probe, yet his death and the consequent events have conclusively proved the insincerity and ineptness of the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. At a time when the Rizwanur episode has exposed the soft underbelly of the CPM-led administration, a similarly ominous development in the form (…)

• Displacing Livelihoods

  3 November 2007, by Sheetal Sharma

  Human displacement, whether in response to war (civil and ethnic), natural disaster, economic opportunity, or building of infrastructure within countries, is the key issue in contemporary discussions of population movements. These movements include displaced, political and economic refugees, migrants, and exiles who move across and within national boundaries, as well as those forced to relocate in response to infrastructural development such as economic zones, power projects, dam (…)

• One Year of Pranab Mukherjee’s Proactive Foreign Policy

  3 November 2007, by Rup Narayan Das

  Pranab Mukherjee took over the reins of the Ministry of External Affairs one year ago on October 25 last year at South Block at a very trying time. When his predecessor, K. Natwar Singh, left the exalted office, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, temporarily looked after the portfolio. Although the MEA, on earlier occasions, had been under the direct superintendence of the Prime Minister, the magnitude of the problemms entailed dedicated attention and quality time to navigate the (…)

• Conscience-Keeper of Civil Society

  3 November 2007

  November 3 happens to be N.C.’s ninetyfourth birthday. On the occasion we remember him by publishing the following pieces that appeared after his death. —Editor
  Nikhil Chakravartty Indian journalist, died in Delhi on June 27 aged 84. He was born in Silchar on November 3, 1913.
  Gentle yet combative, Nikhil Chakravartty was one of the most celebrated and respected names in Indian journalism. He was a courageous and independent columnist whose uncluttered style and great integrity won him (…)

• My Earliest Recollections

  3 November 2007, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  What’s the earliest memory I have about myself? I have tried to look back to catch a glimpse of what could possibly be the earliest scene I can remember about my life.
  I don’t remember anything about my birth and infancy, about the place where I was born. That was in a winter morning in November 1913 at a town in Assam called Silchar where my mother’s uncle was a prison doctor. My mother told me later that I was born early morning at about 5. I don’t know who were all there to receive me (…)

• Two Messages

  3 November 2007, by P.B. Sawant, Subrata Banerjee

  These were sent after N.C.’s demise and published in the Mainstream issues dated August 29, 1998 and August 1, 1998 respectively. —Editor
  The condolence resolution passed by the Press Council of India on the 4th of this month (August) must have reached you by this time. In addition, the individual members expressed their own feelings and narrated their reminiscences of Dada who was also associated with the Press Council as its member for three years from 1995.
  I had the fortune of (…)

• Bravo, Jessoda!

  3 November 2007, by P. M. Warrier

  In their little den on Park Lane in Calcutta half a dozen young Malayalees, mostly clerks and typists, listened intently as a tiny bespectacled man in his early 30s read aloud a graphic account of how the city greeted India’s independence only a couple of days earlier. As the momentous hour approached, the multitudes of the hitherto riot-torn metropolis had poured out on to the streets singing, dancing, spontaneously embracing one another and welcoming the dawn of freedom in near delirium. (…)

• Remembering Two South Asian Stalwarts

  3 November 2007, by Javed Jabbar

  With the passing away of Nikhil Chakravartty and Mahbub ul Haq less than three weeks apart, on 27 June and 16 July, South Asia has lost two outstanding individuals who belonged to different countries yet shared a deep commitment to the region.
  While the fact that Nikhil Chakravartty was Indian and Mahbub ul Haq was Pakistani underlines their distinct national identities within South Asia, their personal attributes were so universal and humanistic that they rose above the variances to (…)