Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Eleven Years, Six Asks: The Policy Ledger Behind Modi’s Austerity Appeal | Varna Sri Raman

  22 May, by Varna Sri Raman

  Seventy-three days into the Iran war, the Prime Minister asked Indians to cut fuel, defer foreign travel, postpone gold, reduce edible oil, revive work-from-home, and buy Indian. Citizens of any country with an import profile like India’s would accept restraint in a crisis. The question is why this crisis arrived so unprepared for, after eleven years of Make in India, Atmanirbhar Bharat, and Aatmanirbharta. Each ask names a vulnerability the policy ledger was supposed to close. The bill is (…)

• Labour Unrest in Noida and Gurgaon: Precarity, Protest and the Crisis of Labour Governance | Chetna Trivedi

  22 May

  Labour Unrest and Workers

• The e-SHRAM Paradox: Visible to the State, Invisible in Welfare | Bhumi Sharma, Faraz Ahmad and A. M. Jose

  22 May, by A. M. Jose

  Abstract: India’s e-SHRAM portal is one of the world’s largest digital registries of unorganised workers. With over 31.48 crore workers registered as of January 2026, it represents an important administrative achievement. Yet registration alone does not guarantee social protection. Drawing on field evidence from informal workers in Gurugram, this article argues that e-SHRAM has made workers visible to the state without necessarily enabling them to claim welfare benefits. The challenge, (…)

• CJI could initiate a probe into fake degree holders occupying high offices | Faraz Ahmad

  22 May, by Faraz Ahmad

  Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant stated recently in an open court, "There are youngsters like cockroaches. They don’t get any employment. Some of them become media, some become social media, some become RTI activists, some of them become other activists."
  When there was an outrage in the world outside, Justice Surya Kant clarified that his courtroom remarks comparing certain individuals to "cockroaches" and "parasites" were strictly aimed at individuals using fake degrees to enter (…)

• Reading Gandhi

  22 May, by Arup Kumar Sen

  Kumkum Sangari

• BJP

  22 May, by Arun Srivastava

  False allegations and fabricated narratives capture public imagination due to their emotional charge, often spreading faster than truth, particularly through social media and sensationalized reporting. Often stemming from motives like revenge, intention to malign, to set personal score or attention-seeking, these accusations cause immense, sometimes irreparable, reputational and psychological damage to the wrongly accused.
  Saffron ecosystem in league with the nouveau riche and upper middle (…)

• A Wishlist: People

  22 May

  The 2026 elections for the West Bengal assembly was unprecedented in two ways. First, it was the first ever violence-free election in the history of the State, Secondly, the voter turnout, was nearly 93%. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in this eastern State by bagging a massive 207 seats out of 293 seats. The ruling All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), facing anti-incumbency at the end of its third term, secured only 80 seats and will now sit in Opposition. The Indian (…)

• The Secular Ghosts of Park Street | Sreejith Kalandy

  22 May

  A Reflection on Cosmopolitan Memory, Coexistence, and the Layered Soul of a Kolkata Street
  As Bengal changes politically and socially, the other day I went to Flurys on Park Street, ordered its iconic English breakfast, and sat looking out through its glass fa

• Changing Nomenclature of Centrally Sponsored Schemes in India: Implications for Beneficiary Perception and Policy Effectiveness | Jos Chathukulam

  22 May, by Jos Chathukulam

  Abstract
  The evolution of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) in India reflects continuous efforts by the

• The Invisible Workforce That Keeps India’s Cities Running | Krishnan Agarwal

  22 May

  Every election season, when trains fill with Bengali workers heading home to vote, the cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Kochi, Mumbai and Pune they leave behind briefly halt their fast-paced life-style. All across Kerala, the work in gardens, orchards, orchid farms and cocoanut farms also come to a brief halt. The workers here are from rural Bengal, just like those in the big cities. This happens when elections happen in the north-eastern States, Bihar and Odisha too, and States like (…)