Mainstream Weekly

Kerala: Democracy, Society, People

K Saradamoni — 2017-09-09T12:15:58Z

It is sixty years since the State of Kerala was formed and one year since the present Left Democratic Front Government came to power. People were fed up by the never-ending stories of corruption and nepotism of the previous Congress-led government. The first election to the new State, which brought a Communist Government to power in 1957, created big news within and outside the country. It was the first time that a non-Congress government came to power anywhere in free India.
The first (…)

- 2017

Kerala Model: Gone with the Wind?

K Saradamoni — 2013-12-29T11:54:06Z

Kerala, a tiny strip of land in the extreme south-west of the Indian subcontinent, became a state on October 1, 1956 following the dictates of the States Reorganisation Commission. This area, renowned for the spices grown there, especially pepper, was known in countries, East and West. Its fame increased when the very next year, that is, in 1957 the people voted to power a Communist Government, the first in India. This attracted lots of people, from other States and outside the country, as (…)

- 2013

What is Happening in Kerala?

K Saradamoni — 2013-01-03T18:58:58Z

More than fifty years back people in the newly formed State of Kerala created history by voting to power, through the democratic election process, a Ministry led by the Communist Party. For the first time the hegemony of the Indian National Congress was challenged in the country.
In the first Lok Sabha, the Communist Party—undivided at that time—was the major Opposition and A.K. Gopalan, from North Malabar which at that time was part of the Madras Presidency, was the Leader of the (…)

- 2012

Democracy, Development, Politics

K Saradamoni — 2012-04-13T13:03:47Z

We are very proud of our Democracy. We are equally proud that “We the People” have given unto ourselves a Constitution that ensures the noble aspects of democracy. We have even incorporated Socialism and Secularism into the Constitution. We have a Parliament to which women and men above the age of 18 vote for the candidate of their choice. We boast of the “Pillars of our Democracy”, the Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, and Press which we consider as Independent. Even when large sections of (…)

- 2012

Everybody has a Right to Raise her/his Voice, and Protest in a Democracy like Ours; but…

K Saradamoni — 2011-09-06T16:37:17Z

When I sit to write this, I am hearing on the television something which has been there continuously for the last four-five days. It is about Anna Hazare and the movement he has launched to free India of corruption in which our country is nearly drowned. People, women and men, children, youth and the elderly have come out in large numbers in many parts of the country to support Anna Hazare and his team whom they have come to believe. That belief comes mainly from a few of the qualities they (…)

- 2011

Caste Census, Commonwealth Games, Scams and Citizens' Responsibility

K Saradamoni — 2011-04-25T11:40:46Z

I shall not quarrel with anyone who thinks the above title crazy. The pro-caste census lobby did not have an easy time. There are sections among the decision-makers and ordinary people who think that caste is no more a problem in India. But there are others who think that the caste problem remains an unresolved issue. What has the census to do with this? What we understand as census records are the number of people, women, men; married, divorced/widowed, unmarried; children under a certain (…)

- 2011

Bhopal, Plachimada, Worth of an Ordinary Citizen and Development

K Saradamoni — 2010-08-22T17:39:42Z

I was watching a ‘reality show', titled Citizen Journalist, in a Malayalam TV channel. The participant, a young man, reported on a colony of adivasis. Supported by effective visuals he showed the deprivation in the area and the utter despair in the life of the people. Strangely the local MLA had no knowledge of the area. The people, though poor in every respect, knew that they were remembered only at the time of elections. They know nothing of their rights. Two of the judges of the show (…)

- 2010

March 8, 2010: A Day for Rethinking, Redefining and Determination to go Forward

K Saradamoni — 2010-03-06T11:39:19Z

Women's groups have started talking about the coming March 8, a day which in recent times has become a ritual. This is true of other ‘days' too, including August 15 and January 26. One can say that this is natural, as time goes on and new generations and new situations demand energy, time and thought over fresh ‘days'. But should that mean forgetting the past? It should not, I hold.
An annual Day for Women or Women's Day has been observed mainly in Europe and the USA for nearly a (…)

- 2010

Bt Brinjal is Neither the Beginning Nor the End

K Saradamoni — 2010-02-22T15:42:31Z

A few days back, on January 26, 2010, we celebrated our sixtieth Republic Day, reminding us that we declared ourselves to be a sovereign Republic sixty years ago. We proclaimed that all people, living in this country, irrespective of religion, caste, gender, place of living would have freedom of opportunity. We told ourselves that ours would be a democratic country where freedom of faith or absence of it, right to live with dignity, to be treated as equal everywhere —place of worship, (…)

- 2010

Save Brinjal, Save Ourselves

K Saradamoni — 2009-11-24T14:38:45Z

For some time brinjal, a vegetable which in no way can be called exotic, and eaten in different forms by people in most parts of the country, has attracted media attention and is now caught in a tussle. The contending parties are the State and Central governments, activists working on safe food, protection of the environment, organic cultivation and the American agro-business company Monsanto. Before proceeding we have to be clear of two abbreviations which are important in the present (…)

- November 2009