Mainstream Weekly

Treading Lightly to Freedom in Myanmar

Uttam Sen — 2015-11-27T06:07:20Z

The Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy's clean sweep in the November 8 elections in Myanmar surprised those who thought that the embers of the 1990 outcome had finally died down. The NLD had stormed those elections as well (if anything, less emphatically) but had been set back by their annulment by the military junta and the house arrest of their all-in-one Burmese “face” and mass leader, at home in Yangon and at Oxford, or Delhi where she did some of her schooling and of (…)

- 2015

Modi's Trips to China, Mongolia, South Korea: Treading Carefully

Uttam Sen — 2015-05-22T19:13:14Z

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi's China visit must be intriguing experts and amateurs alike. There was a huge line-up list to be addressed. But the impression, that it was being negotiated withal through the symbolic representation of culture, realpolitik, trade and finance, was thought-provoking. Modi's reception in Xi Jinping's hometown of Xian corresponded with Xi's scheduling of Ahmedabad as his first stop in September last year. Modi's visit to the Giant Golden Goose Pagoda, which had (…)

- 2015

Sino - Indian Relations: Are Xi and Modi setting the Right Agenda despite Irritants?

Uttam Sen — 2015-05-16T06:54:14Z

According to one well-regarded international newspaper, it was just one of those things that naïve Chinese commanders had directed their men to cross into Indian territory during Xi Jinping's visit to India in September 2014, to the annoyance of the Indian public in general and the Prime Minister in particular. Serious strategists tend to discount minor aberrations in their ordered paradigms and the thought of China's most powerful President since Deng Xiaoping either having his position (…)

- 2015

Afghan Test Case

Uttam Sen — 2015-05-09T07:32:00Z

The Afghan President, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani's mindfulness of India in his country's scheme of things could well have been distilled in the interview he gave a leading Indian daily. Creating the right of way by road for goods from Kabul past the Wagah checkpost to India and beyond and vice versa to Central Asia is probably a former technocrat's most vivid statement of intent. If and when he has his way, Afghan goods trucks will be rumbling down to Kolkata and Chittagong. The stabilisation of (…)

- 2015

Chinese Bonanza for Pakistan: In the Wider Interest?

Uttam Sen — 2015-05-02T11:09:26Z

China's multifaceted initiative on Pakistan has been received pragmatically by public opinion in India on the watch for what works best. Even the windfall of submarines, as long as it is not technically converted into a platform for directing a nuclear-tipped second strike at India, has not produced knee-jerk alarm, the Defence Minister briefly spelling out a more ambitious schedule. It is now tacitly taken for granted that the various aspects of China's policies include the Pakistani proxy (…)

- 2015

Yemen and the Nuclear Deal: Evolving Global Equations

Uttam Sen — 2015-04-12T09:51:07Z

The bombing of the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, by the Saudi-led coalition has exposed a bag of contradictions which are growing sharper with time. The coalition is battling the Houthi rebels hostile to the Sunni and pro-Saudi President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, more importantly, the Al Qaida and Islamic State (IS). In a sense this had to happen given the Saudi strategic vulnerability to a Shia dispensation to its south. Its oilfields could be threatened next and its own Sunni population, which is (…)

- 2015

Delhi's Valentine Day Gift

Uttam Sen — 2015-02-16T18:45:25Z

The AAP's thumping victory was a token of the fulfilment the people of Delhi preserved for themselves. As an eloquent newscaster described the electoral landslide, it approximated the symbol of affection and goodwill conveyed to a loved one on the martyrdom of a 3rd century Roman saint, his name also tagged to the vigour and vitality associated with the youth. If the statements of the AAP's prominent leaders were to be heeded, the party was the aam aadmi's vehicle for realising his/her (…)

- 2015

Odds after the Maharashtra, Haryana elections: Turning Towards Inclusive Well-being

Uttam Sen — 2014-11-02T10:52:51Z

On the face of it, the BJP's ascendancy in Maha-rashtra and Haryana mirrors an extraordinarily unipolar political fabric. The condition has to be viewed in the background both of the political and economic uncertainty which preceded the installation of the government at the Centre, and the undoubtedly decisive image Narendra Modi subsequently presented. The government's credibility has been subsequently enhanced by a drop in global crude prices which has automatically kept food inflation in (…)

- 2014

The Jayalalithaa Case: A Landmark in Reform

Uttam Sen — 2014-10-06T17:19:57Z

The Tamil Nadu Chef Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief, Ms J. Jayalalithaa's conviction by a Special Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Bengaluru on September 27 was exemplary. Ms Jayalalithaa was sent to prison for four years, disqualified as an MLA, lost her position as the Chief Minister and was barred from holding public office for ten years, apart from having to pay a fine considered commensurate with the magnitude of her offence. Her three (…)

- 2014

For the people's sake: Synchronising Sino-Indian Relations

Uttam Sen — 2014-09-28T13:27:50Z

India and China represent one-third of humanity to make their mutual relationship both illustrative and compelling. The choices and contradictions before the Sino-Indian multitude can serve as an example of what people at large have to live and contend with. The duo also hold the world's attention because put together they have the power or agency to predetermine events.
Border incursions by China into eastern Ladakh, reportedly at their heaviest on the second day of Chinese President Xi (…)

- 2014