Mainstream Weekly

China's Creeping Crypto-Colonialism: Sovereignty of Small Neighbouring Countries in Danger

Kunal Ghosh — 2018-07-29T07:48:20Z

China's Belt and Road Initiative is ostensibly aimed at helping out lesser developed countries of Asia by building infrastructure and connectivity for them. However, it is associated with certain symptoms that are ominous. China has achieved technical superiority several notches above its surrounding neighbours, except South Korea, and second only to Japan in Asia; but in size, in terms of population and area, it is a behemoth compared to little South Korea or Japan. So its demand for raw (…)

- 2018

An Engineer's Observations on Economics

Kunal Ghosh — 2011-04-21T17:44:45Z

The constant talk of GDP growth and how India is one of the growth engines of the world, trumpeted day in and day out by our Ministers, media and Western experts, intrigue me. I wanted to read between the lines of growth statistics. I obtained the growth figures of the Indian economy from 1990-91 onward up to 2010-11. Up to 2005-06 the figures are from Wikipedia quoting authentic Government of India source, and the rest from the pages of a recent issue of Mainstream. (Anshuman Gupta 2011) (…)

- 2011

Ideological and Development War Ahead

Kunal Ghosh — 2009-05-23T17:41:23Z

Pakistan's Permanent Representative Abdullah Haroon made a link in the UN between Darul Uloom Deoband in India and terrorism in Pakistan's NWFP and FATA areas where the Al-Qaeda and Taliban ideology flourishes. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind protested to the MEA, Pak High Commission and UN Secretary-General against Pakistan opening this new front. (Ref: ‘Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Protests Pak Link' The Times of India, Kanpur, New Delhi, December 19, 2008) In the aftermath of the Mumbai 26/11 terrorist (…)

- May 2009

How India should Respond to Western Duplicity

Kunal Ghosh — 2009-02-23T12:29:02Z

The signals coming out of Obama's Washington D.C. and the message conveyed by the Foreign Secretary of UK, David Miliband, during his recent trip in India (January 2009) are concerted. Miliband conveyed in no uncertain terms that Kashmir is an issue and India should move on with the Kashmir issue and not stick to the status quo. So there is a method and it is designed to take the eye off the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israel's current invasion ( in January 2009) of Gaza is brutal and has (…)

- February 2009

Sufism, Wahabism and Kashmiriyat

Kunal Ghosh — 2008-10-17T15:59:28Z

I enjoyed reading Badri Raina' article, “J&K Heal and Renew” (Mainstream, New Delhi, August 30, 2008, pp. 11-13). He appears to write poetry in lucid prose, aimed straight for the heart, when he describes Kashmiri syncretism between the Muslim and Hindu faiths, its past and fraying present. I hope that his message touches the heart of the common Kashmiri man, but I am afraid it may not. Here are the reasons why I think the message may miss the mark. Raina says (ibid.):
“...some Sunni (…)

- October 11, 2008

Rival Faiths in Tibet

Kunal Ghosh — 2008-04-07T08:43:50Z

Anti-China protests broke out in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet on March 14, 2008. They have spread to the neighbouring Sichuan and Qinghai provinces that incorporated what used to be the Amdo region of Tibet before China took possession of Tibet in 1959. The Dalai Lama has called for an international probe into whether “cultural genocide—deliberate or not—was taking place in his homeland”. (The Times of India, March 17, 2008, Lucknow) Samdhang Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan (…)

- April 5, 2008

Strategic Alliance with the USA in a World of 'Civilisation'-based Alignment

Kunal Ghosh — 2007-10-30T23:36:05Z

The Government of India is in the process of reaching a comprehensive agreement with the USA on civil cooperation in nuclear power. The Left parties are opposed to it on the ground that it binds India to America as a global strategic partner and that has some long term ramifications. They say: “The nuclear cooperation deal is an integral part of the July 2005 Joint Statement, which has political, economic and strategic aspects. It is also closely linked to the June 2005 Military Framework (…)

- October 27, 2007

A Fresh Look at Singur in the Light of Climate Change Warning

Kunal Ghosh — 2007-06-02T10:45:00Z

The recent Bangkok meeting of scientists from all over the world has warned of dire changes in earth's climate due to global warming caused by green-house gases. The polar ice will melt; the sea will rise and inundate coastal cities, such as Venice, Mumbai, Chennai, Shanghai etc. These are prognosis for the future. Let us look at what has already happened or is happening:
1. The Gangotri, Jamunotri and many other glaciers of the Himalayas have been receding by as much as several tens of (…)

- June 02, 2007