Mainstream Weekly

Need for Eco-Literacy

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2013-10-09T06:14:32Z

COMMUNICATION
When Nature's laws are flouted and Ecology Illiterates rule the roost, man-made disasters are bound to happen.
The notification by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, dated December 18, 2012, correctly stated that the 135 km stretch from Goumukh to Uttarkashi is an eco-sensitive area. Its implication was that the series of hydro-electric projects planned along the river Bhagirathi needed to be abandoned and the construction of hotels and resorts needed to be (…)

- 2013

N.C.—the Idealist and Model Journalist

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2013-07-01T05:28:56Z

In 1940, just after doing my matriculation, I received several back issues of Calcutta's Presidency College magazine, through the courtesy of two co-villagers who were then studying at Presidency College. Those back issues were edited by one Nikhilnath Chakravartty. The college had a tradition of appointing as the editor if its college magazine, a student who had put up a brilliant academic performance in the year just past. This was perhaps the said college's way of grooming students as (…)

- 2013

For Climate Change Mitigation: Imperative of Mass Action Programmes of Bamboo Plantation and Algae Culture

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2013-06-15T18:24:31Z

The following are some thoughts penned by the author on the World Environment Day which was observed on June 5.
India's national Capital city and some other mega cities are now going through a tremendous heat wave, which have few parallels in these cities' history. Amid this horrid indicator that a catastrophic climate change has indeed been taking place, the country observed the Environment Day by passively resolving to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that have been (…)

- 2013

Supreme Court Judgment on Kudankulam Plant Needs Full-bench Review

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2013-05-11T19:24:42Z

COMMENTARY
Observer
The judgment delivered on May 6 (2013) by a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court is shocking and anti-people. Unless the full-Bench of the Supreme Court hastens to correct it, it will lower the prestige of our Supreme Court in the eyes of the world.
The following questions need to be addressed: Who, for what purpose, filed the PIL on the Kudankulam nuclear plant before the Supreme Court? Is the Supreme Court endowed with superior know-ledge about nuclear plants? (…)

- 2013

UN Must Outlaw Nuclear Power Plants

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2012-03-20T18:34:40Z

A few days back, the Prime Minister accused Tirunevleli's NGOs of using foreign funds for organising protest movements against the com-missioning of the Kundakulam nuclear plant. If he meant to say that the protest is foreign inspired, he is entirely mistaken. Now common people all over the world know that nuclear plants are based on a technology which spews deaths to hundreds of thousands in the event of a small human or machine error and that there can be no guarantee against such an (…)

- 2012

How Safe Is Kundankulam N-Power Plant?: An Open Letter to Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2012-02-14T16:50:27Z

Dear Dr Kalam,
You are one of the most popular ex-Presidents of the Republic of India, the home of one-sixth of humanity. As such, you enjoy high respect at home and abroad. Your eagerness to ignite people's minds is universally acclaimed. Your interaction with the student community is a great source of inspiration for all of us.
You are a world class missile engineer. Your leadership of the defence research and develop-ment projects was excellent. For all these records, you are an (…)

- 2012

Rahul Gandhi Needs to Learn from Mahatma Gandhi's Precepts

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2011-09-23T11:18:40Z

PEOPLE ARE SUPREME: PARLIAMENT MUST WORK UNDER PEOPLE'S PRESSURE
Last fortnight, despite countrywide popular support for Anna Hazare's Jana Lokpal demand, some MPs of the ruling coalition started saying that Parliament is supreme, that parliamentary procedures cannot be shortened or expedited to meet emergencies and that trying to do this would mean undermining the democratic process. According to newspaper reports, “Rahul Gandhi underscored the supremacy of Parliament over street (…)

- 2011

A Few Pointers for the Mamata Banerjee Government

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2011-08-20T19:57:27Z

Ms Mamata Banerjee came to power in West Bengal on the crest of a wave of popularity unprecedented in the annals of any State of India. The people of West Bengal have high expectations from her. The people of other States, too, look up to her for setting an example of corruption-free governance for a true and long-lasting upliftment of the people at the grassroots level. It is, therefore, necessary for every well-wisher to keep a watchful eye on her government's moves—to support her (…)

- 2011

Surging Rise in Prices and Manmohanomics

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2011-07-20T09:59:52Z

In my student days, I had read William Hazlitt's essay, “On the Ignorance of the Learned”. Now, we find conspicuous example of purblindness in our learned Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. He is acclaimed by the G-8 summiteers as a great economist. Since he accepted the Western paradigm of development, his advice, possibly, suits them well. In India, his expertise has resulted in (i) the creation of a small island—better say, an island of a few wealthy families—amid an expanding sea of (…)

- 2011

Endosulfan And Related Issues: Pesticide Companies' Influence on Ministries and Scientific Panels

Sailendra Nath Ghosh — 2011-05-24T16:40:54Z

Anna Hazare is campaigning against corruption. The people's attention is focussed on bribery and money-making forms of corruption, which can be smelt by intelligent lay public and established by diligent enquiry on the basis of common sense logic.
There is another kind of corruption which is more insidious—appointing members of scientific and technical advisory panels, the majority of whom would belong to the lobby of the manufacturers whose products they are supposed to analyse and (…)

- 2011