Mainstream Weekly

Unequal exchange system — a variant of bonded labour system

Lakshmidhar Mishra — 2016-03-20T22:32:00Z

Article 19 (g) of the Constitution of India confers on every citizen of India the fundamental right to practise any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business. By implication, it would include the right to appropriate or purchase and/or sell products, according to one's own volition and convenience, at a rate which is considered just, fair and equitable without any element of deceit and guard, manipulation, coercion or regimentation. To the extent such transaction carried (…)

- 2016

Will the Voice of Sanity and Reason Wake Up to Take the Call against Human Bondage?

Lakshmidhar Mishra — 2014-02-22T16:04:18Z

The abominable bonded labour system resting on the premise of unequal exchange is anathema to a civilised human conscience. It is a negation of inalienable human rights premised on respect for human dignity, decency, equality and freedom. It is a slur on the march of civilisation to the so-called material progress. It is the very antithesis of decent productive work.
The million dollar question is: how do we identify the victims of the system? Being in the twilight zone of human (…)

- 2014

Migration, Protection and Law

Lakshmidhar Mishra — 2010-12-31T03:54:33Z

Every law is the product of a particular point of time and carries with it the political and economic ethos obtaining at that point of time. Enacted with good intentions, it falls into disuse and eventually becomes a dead letter on account of sweeping changes in the social, economic and political milieu on the one hand and rapid decline over a period of time in the positive and proactive ethos which had given birth to the legislative framework at a particular point of time. It is precisely (…)

- 2010

Key to Good Governance: a Perceptive, Responsive and Sensitive Administration

Lakshmidhar Mishra — 2009-12-26T16:37:31Z

It may be appropriate to adopt a dialogical method of inquiry into this otherwise complex and mind-boggling arena of governance. The advantages of such an approach are well known. Questioning leads to analysis; analysis leads to rational and scientific thinking and decisions and such decisions constitute the bedrock of sound planning and effective implementation. The questions relevant in the present context are:
I. What is governance?
II. What is good governance? (…)

- December 2009

Abolition of Child Labour and Right to Education

Lakshmidhar Mishra — 2008-12-21T18:51:16Z

‘Hope springs eternal in human breast' is an old adage in English. It became quite meaningful when I came to know with a lot of happiness a few days back from the newspapers that the Union Cabinet has approved the Right to Education Bill, 2005 and that the said Bill was likely to be introduced in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament in December 2008.
In 1946 India signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 26 of the Declaration said that everyone had the right to (…)

- December 20, 2008 - Annual Number 2008

Is the Cult of Non-Violence opposed to the Fight against the Culture of Tyranny, Injustice, Oppression and Exploitation?

Lakshmidhar Mishra — 2007-12-25T22:12:06Z

Both violence and non-violence have to be perceived and internalised in the context of sacrosanctity of human life and the volley of abuses, cruelties and indignities which are heaped against human life every day in India and abroad. Let me start with a couplet from Maharishi Valmiki's Ramayan which espouses the validity of my thesis apart from enunciating lucidly and forcefully the quintessence of protection of all lives. I quote from the English translation:
O hunter, please do not kill (…)

- December 22, 2007 - Annual Number 2007