Mainstream Weekly

Fly High or Crash Land

N V K Murthy — 2015-03-30T09:46:07Z

The new BJP Government has placed its first complete Budget before Parliament. It shows great hope. The Finance Minister has anticipated a growth rate of 8.5 per cent. The Economist of February 21-27 has an editorial on the subject with the title “India's chance to Fly”. The editorial has suggested reforms in three areas: Land, Labour and Power. These areas are crucial but one may not agree entirely with the direction of changes suggested.
The editorial recommends that the acquisition of (…)

- 2015

2014 — Prospects for India in the New Year

N V K Murthy — 2014-01-28T17:06:17Z

India has started its sixtyseventh year of freedom from British rule. Much has happened in India and the world over these past sixty-six years. India faces a general election in 2014. It seems to be at the cross-roads of history. Which way will it go? That is a million dollar question troubling every Indian. History, they say, is of value because it provides us with lessons to learn. At the dawn of India's freedom, the world was a very different place. Two devastating world wars had been (…)

- 2014

Bringing Peace to Kashmir

N V K Murthy — 2012-06-11T21:52:08Z

The most tragic common heritage of India and Pakistan is a memory of the massacre of thousands of Muslims and Hindus in the two countries following the partition of the subcon-tinent. This is not to find fault with the leaders of the two countries for wanting or agreeing to the partition of the subcontinent of India into two countries before the colonial power, the British empire, relinquished its rule. No doubt they did it with the best of intentions thinking that this would be the ideal (…)

- 2012

From Slavery to the White House

N V K Murthy — 2008-11-25T11:56:51Z

November 4, 2008. This will indeed be a historic day for the United States of America. The citizens have emphatically voted to make Barack Obama the 44th President of the USA. It is as historic as the day when the Rev Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the freedom march in Washington D.C. in November 1964 and made his memorable “I-have-a-dream” speech. It is as historic as the day when the civil war ended which put slavery to rest. However, that was only as symbolic as the Indian Constitution (…)

- November 22, 2008

Challenge before the Left Parties

N V K Murthy — 2007-10-16T13:05:57Z

Never before in the history of free India have the Left parties had the influence they have now over the policies of the Central Government of India. How they are going to use this influence and enhance it in the days to come is likely to be a crucial factor in the destiny of India.
During the first general election in 1951, one candidate put up by the then united Communist Party of India, Ravi Narayan Reddy, got the highest number of votes, more than even the number of votes obtained by (…)

- October 13, 2007

Public Service Broadcasting : Illusion and Reality

N V K Murthy — 2007-07-21T13:23:00Z

The Indian broadcast media, Akashvani and Doordarshan, owned and controlled by the Government of India, refer to themselves as the public service broadcasting media. But, are they, in reality, public service media? Let us take a closer look.
When India became free in August 1947, television was not on the scene. We had only sound broadcasting. A radio club came up in Calcutta under private auspices as an experiment in 1923. Similar stations came up in Madras, Bombay and elsewhere. It was (…)

- July 21, 2007