Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Lockdown and Crackdown

  9 May 2020, by Humra Quraishi

  Musings
  May 6, 2020
  Together with stating what ‘activities’ are to be allowed or disallowed in the red and orange and the hot spot zones of the country, its best if the establishment also puts forth what’s to be spoken out and what all is to be camouflaged or throttled! If a student or an activist or a scholar speaks out beyond the unwritten dictates or against the unwanted political ploys of the day, there’s that possibility of getting slapped with FIRs! Unfortunate and (…)

• AITUC strongly condemns the move of some state governments to take away labour rights of workers. Demands black laws to be withdrawn

  9 May 2020

  All India Trade Union Congress AITUC Bhawan: 35-36, DDU Marg, Rouse Avenue, New Delhi – 110002 E Mail: aituchq[at]gmail.com Tel: +91 1123217320
  The following statement was issued to the press by Amarjeet Kaur – General Secretary AITUC today
  08.05.2020
  AITUC strongly condemns the move of some state governments to take away labour rights of workers. Demands black laws to be withdrawn
  AITUC first of all pays homage to all the migrant workers who were crushed under (…)

• How the Poor Survive?

  9 May 2020, by Arup Kumar Sen

  In an interview in 2014, the eminent political philosopher of our time, Giorgio Agamben argued: “Public power is losing legitimacy. A mutual suspicion has developed between the authorities and the citizen”.
  This is very much evident in contemporary India in the wake of coronavirus-induced national lockdown. Thousands of migrant workers thronged Anand Vihar bus terminus on the Delhi-U.P. border with their families, including children, at the end of March, 2020, in a desperate bid to return (…)

• The State of Indian News Media in the Times of Covid 19

  9 May 2020

  by Naren Singh Rao
  In a democratic set-up how should news media function in the times of crisis such as Covid 19? Should it function as the watchdog, functioning as the fourth estate, as conceptualised over the course of the maturation of the idea of democracy? Or should it function in coordination with governments claiming to be ‘‘waging a war’’ against ‘‘national/humanitarian crisis’’, which, interestingly, all governments howsoever oppressive they are always claim to do without fail? (…)

• Martin Khor, Third Worldist

  9 May 2020

  by Jomo Kwame Sundaram
  PENANG, Apr 3 2020 (IPS) - Martin Khor Kok Peng passed away just after the end of the first quarter of 2020. He leaves behind an unusually rich legacy. Atypically for people mainly working in the worldideas, he was also a very practical and pragmatic activist who successfully built and sustained several important initiatives which will live on after him.
  Martin was widely well known,both in Malaysia and internationally,and will be remembered for his commitment to a (…)

• India’s total lockdown to counter Covid19 has provoked a crisis - Recommendations for an economic stimulus package by Rahul Gandhi

  9 May 2020

  Statement of Shri Rahul Gandhi, MP
  May 08, 2020
  It’s now 45 days since India was first put under lockdown. Even as the battle against the Covid19 virus continues across the country the reality is that the total lockdown has unleashed on India an economic tsunami of unimaginable proportions.
  It is clear that we are not going to be able to get our economy moving again, without a massive economic stimulus from the Government. Most countries around the world have already announced huge (…)

• Any Takers for Water Wisdom ?

  9 May 2020

  Book Review
  by Zulafqar Ahmed
  This book “Towards Water Wisdom Limits, Justice, Harmony" has been written by Ramaswamy R. Iyer is really a path-breaking exercise. There are several books in his account which has been written on water issues. He has served as secretary of water resources in the Government of India under that capacity he played a leading role as a principal draftsman of India’s first National Water Policy 1987. This book comprehensively discusses the existing mainstream (…)

• QUARANTINE

  9 May 2020

  Lockdown: time seats heavily
  within confines of the walls;
  even the corners seem to be sealed.
  After the daily chores attended to,
  mind wants to fly off through windows
  of laptops, smartphones,
  sending messages, narrowing
  the mental distance that separates
  dear friends, each in his own cell.
  Everything seems to be brought
  to a grinding halt;
  attitudes range from
  keeping calm and carrying on
  to fears that pandemic might leave
  a cruel, crushing effect.
  Take refuge in poesy, (…)

• 

  Table of Contents - Mainstream COVID 19 Lockdown Edition No.6 | May 2, 2020

  3 May 2020

  Mainstream, VOL LVIII No 20, New Delhi, May 2, 2020
  Contents:
  LETTER TO THE READERS - COVID 19 Lockdown Edition No.6
  The History of May Day | Eric Hobsbawm
  USA: How the Military-Industrial Complex Is Using the Coronavirus | William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman
  Nehru and Nature | Sukumaran C.V.
  Will There Be Reunification of Communist Movement in India? | Tikaram Sharma
  The Botched Policy Response to Fighting Corona | Partha Sen
  Need for immediate nationalisation of health (…)

• LETTER TO THE READERS - COVID 19 Lockdown Edition No.6

  3 May 2020

  Yesterday the Centre extended the nationwide lockdown for the second time for two weeks starting May 4. However, considerable relaxations have been announced in the green and orange zones; these include movement of private and public transport within a state as well as further opening up of the economy.
  The three district-wise zones are defined as green (that is those districts — 319 in all — with either no confirmed cases of COVID-19 till date or not confirmed in the last 21 (…)