Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  Table of Contents - Mainstream, Feb 25 & Mar 4, 2023 [Double issue]

  25 February 2023

  * Reimagining everyday justice | Shalu Nigam
  * Śūnyatā and Karl Marx | Pradip Baksi
  * Bhiwani Murders, Haryana Police & Cow Vigilantes | Subhashini Ali
  * Russia: The Collapse of the Vertical | Oleg Sheyn

• Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Feb 25 & Mar 4, 2023

  25 February 2023

  Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Feb 25 & March 4, 2023
  Cow Protection Vigilante Groups Undermine Constitutional Governance in Haryana
  The BJP government in the state of Haryana which is ideologically committed to promoting a Hindutva agenda brought in a Cow Protection Act in 2015 to counter cow slaughter and curb cow smuggling. The state later went on to establish a Special Cow Protection Task Force in each district; This scheme became an entry point for far-right religiopolitical (…)

• Domestic Workers Toil on in Conditions of Reduced Real Wages and Increasing Debts | Bharat Dogra

  25 February 2023, by Bharat Dogra

  Millions of domestic workers in India, an overwhelming majority of them women, have suffered reduced real earnings and increased debts in recent times. In fact in some cases even actual earnings have declined, while after taking into account the impact of inflation, the decline of real wages can be seen in almost all cases.
  Aasmeen leaves her home in Shahbad Dairy, Delhi, early in morning in order to be able to cover all the four households in which her services are used, mainly in various (…)

• SC Judgement on Appointment of Election Commissioners and Chief Election Commissioner Independent of Government Mirrors The Vision of Constituent Assembly | S N Sahu

  25 February 2023, by S N Sahu

  The four judges of the Supreme Court (SC) delivered a historic judgement on 2nd March 2023 to put an end to the exclusive authority of the Government, led by Prime Minister, for appointing Election Commissioners (ECs) and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). They ordered that till the Parliament enacts a law under Article 324(2) of the Constitution the President of India would appoint those persons as ECs and CEC only after their selection by a Committee consisting of the Prime Minister, (…)

• Assembly polls: Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo call resonated | Faraz Ahmad

  25 February 2023, by Faraz Ahmad

  The media trumpets notwithstanding, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nothing much to celebrate the March 3 results of three north eastern states and a couple of bye elections in other states.
  The media is only crying hoarse over the Congress losses in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, implying that Rahul Gandhi’s over 4000 kilometres Padyatra (walk) across 12 states against hate campaign of the BJP or the expose of Adani stock market scam of humungous proportions spread globally, (…)

• Bhiwani Murders Show Collusion Between Haryana Police And Cow Vigilantes | Subhashini Ali

  25 February 2023

  by Subhashini Ali
  The incidents of February 16 that began near Peruka on the border between Rajasthan and Haryana and ended in the Nuh area in Bhiwani district of Haryana, are notable not only for the barbarity and cruel violence meted out to two Muslims, Junaid and Nasir but also for what they reveal about the collusion between the Haryana police and cow vigilantes and the complete impunity with which the latter are allowed to perpetrate crimes in the name of ‘gau seva’ (cow protection). (…)

• Śūnyatā and Karl Marx | Pradip Baksi

  25 February 2023

  by Pradip Baksi
  Abstract
  About a year and a half before the publication of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, Erster Band (1867), there appearedintwo sentences withintwo of his letters, a particular view of the term शून्यता / Śūnyatā: renderedin his own English,asnothingness. He came to know about and understood this term in the context of some meditational practices of the monks, nuns and their householder devotees within some sects of the बौद्ध (Bauddha) धर्म (Dharma)/ धम्म (Dhamma) propagated (…)

• Reimagining everyday justice through the Triad of Niti (policy), Nyaya (Justice), and Niyat (will and agency) | Shalu Nigam

  25 February 2023

  by Shalu Nigam
  Scholars all over the world have defined `justice’ as a broad concept of righteousness, fairness and equity. However, justice has many dimensions and includes comprehending situations of injustices in everyday lives that need to be redressed. More so, from the perspective of the Global South, situations of injustices exist despite having well-written constitutions, laws, and policies, besides the existence of an expansive legal system and the administrative apparatus. (…)

• Investing in Women’s Health: A Step Towards Gender Equality | Suranjita Ray

  25 February 2023, by Suranjita Ray

  The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 at Davos makes a strong pitch to overcome several challenges to achieve gender equality by 2030 as targeted in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The WEF Global Gender Gap Index for 2022 highlights the increasing gender gap in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. The meeting at Davos noted that many of these gaps are preventable. The dialogue outlined that a healthier world for (…)

• Congress leaders yet to overcome the big brother syndrome | Arun Srivastava

  25 February 2023

  by Arun Srivastava
  Notwithstanding lurid claims of the chief of the communication cell of the Congress, Jairam Ramesh “the party knows its role for forging an alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to take on the BJP and oust it from power”, his terse reciprocation to Nitish Kumar’s offer sends a message which is laden with different contour and connotation.
  Nitish Kumar’s proposition did not bear the impression that he was resorting to one-upmanship. His was purely a political (…)