Mainstream Weekly

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• Union Budget 2023-24 Fails to Live up to Expectations of People | Bharat Dogra

  4 February 2023, by Bharat Dogra

  The union budget for the year has been presented at a time of growing concerns that expectations regarding an inclusive recovery from the COVID and lockdown related economic crisis have not been realized for millions of poor households, while inequalities have been increasing sharply. There were therefore strong reasons for using this budget as an instrument for providing immediate relief to the bottom half of the population(which now has access to only 3 to 6% of the total wealth, according (…)

• The Union Budget 2023-2024 : Reading the fine print | P. S. Jayaramu

  4 February 2023

  by P. S. Jayaramu
  February 2, 2023
  Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman presented her fifth budget in succession, her last budget before the Modi Government goes to polls in early 2024. Going by the priority and higher allocations made to the Prime Minister’s programmes, one gets the impression that it is more of a Prime minister’s budget, probably fine-tuned by the PMO, if not totally drafted by it ! The finance minister made repeated references during the course of her speech to the (…)

• Challenges and Policy Options for Budget 2023-24 | Atul Sarma & Shyam Sunder

  4 February 2023, by Atul Sarma

  by Atul Sarma & Shyam Sunder *
  Budget 2023-24 is expected to be prepared under the shadow of multiple challenges such as slowing global growth, elevated core inflation even with tamed energy and food prices, and looming recession in Europe and other advanced countries. At another level, this being the last full budget before the general election in 2024 has its own challenges to make it as voter friendly as possible.
  The performance of the Indian economy in the immediate past would (…)

• V K R V Rao: Remembering an Institution Builder | K N Ninan

  4 February 2023

  by K N Ninan *
  The Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore founded by renowned economist and former Union Minister Dr V K R V Rao in 1972 completed its golden jubilee recently. This was the third institute founded by Dr Rao, the other two being the Delhi School of Economics (DSE) and Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) in Delhi. Professor Rao, the first to obtain a PhD in Economics from Cambridge University and recipient of the prestigious Adam Smith prize was a colossus (…)

• In Defence of Student Politics | Soumodip Sinha

  4 February 2023

  by Soumodip Sinha *
  The term student politics carries manifold conceptions. Student activists I have interacted with during the course of my doctoral fieldwork in Delhi University seek to avoid the category politics and prefer to use the term student activism. Such a phenomenon draws its roots from commonsensical notions about politics itself that has lent it a pejorative connotation with labels such as ‘dirty politics’ being commonplace. Typically, middle class households in India do not (…)

• Happiness In its Living Social Context | Kobad Ghandy

  4 February 2023, by Kobad Ghandy

  Happiness has many interpretations. The first is the vulgar materialist approach to it, where we seek happiness for ourselves in luxuries, consumer products, personal gratifications of various types, etc. - most of these with a selfish self-interest, very often at the cost of others. When this does not give the desired results we seek it in spiritualism, promoted by most religions and gurus, where we are called upon to suppress all desires and worldly interests as the source of happiness. (…)

• Is The BBC Documentary: Much Ado About Nothing? | Papri Sri Raman

  4 February 2023, by Papri Sen Sri Raman

  POOR BBC. THE Left never liked the BBC. Its offences include the cold war reporting, Vietnam, North Korea, China, reporting of so many events. The Afghans would tune in to BBC to learn about how many Soviet battalions had retreated and how soon the Americans would arrive. The Iranians would track the sanctions list. The Left has also raised concerns regarding homophobia and transphobia within the company. In 2006, a University of Leeds study found that the BBC is ‘institutionally homophobic’ (…)

• Fasting Himalayan activist draws scorn from insensitive Modi government | K Raveendran

  4 February 2023

  by K Raveendran
  (India Press Agency, January 31, 2023) Even the British succumbed to the moral pressure of Satyagraha, but that is not the case with the present day Indian rulers, who have responded to a fast by a Magsaysay award winner to attract the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the need to protect the environmentally sensitive Ladakh region with insensitivity and intolerance.
  Instead of appreciating the cause he was seeking to propound, the government put him under (…)

• Lessons unlearned from India’s online schooling emergency | Dipanjan Chakraborty

  4 February 2023

  by Dipanjan Chakraborty *
  The poor miss out when teaching goes online, leaving millions without proper education.
  Millions of children in India may never return to school following the severe disruptions of rolling COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
  Online teaching — meant to replace in-classroom instruction — mostly failed for a variety of reasons. Poor internet coverage and the prohibitive cost of decent bandwidth for many families was a major factor. Despite increasing takeup of (…)

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  Remembering Respected Shanti Bhushan, My First Teacher in Law Practice | Aurobindo Ghose

  4 February 2023, by Aurobindo Ghose

  Tributes to respected Shanti Bhushan-ji, a tall lawyer, great teacher, and humble leader! Instrumental in dethroning Indira Gandhi, gathering of forces for the post-Emergency Janata Party, and bringing AAP and Kejriwal to the political forefront. I remember his surprise appearance for me in the Operation Bluestar Report - bail matter in the District Court of Tis Hazari, when I was unconditionally set free. A senior advocate appearing in the district court was very rare. He was my first (…)