Mainstream Weekly

The Future of Democracy

Balmiki Prasad Singh — 2012-08-20T12:15:30Z

I. Setting and Argument
Between December 18, 2010 and September 17, 2011, three events in different parts of the world highlighted the issue of the future of democracy as central to the social and political discourse everywhere. These three epoch-making events have different evocative titles: The Arab Spring; India Against Corruption; and Occupy Wall Street.
The Arab Spring—a wave of demonstrations and protests-began on Saturday, December 18, 2010 in Tunisia when Mohamed Bouazizi (…)

- 2012

Beyond Bengal: The Genius of Rabindranath Tagore

Balmiki Prasad Singh — 2012-01-31T10:42:55Z

The world is celebrating the 150th birth aniver-sary of Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore's creative genius found expression in poetry, novels, short-stories, plays, paintings and essays. In the history of Indian literature, he forms a trinity along with Sanskrit poet and playwright Kalidas and Hindi poet and philosopher Goswami Tulsidas.
The Bengali personality bears the impact of the genius of Rabindranath and he occupies a place of prominence in their homes. Rabindranath, however, has a (…)

- 2012

Celebrating Swami Vivekananda

Balmiki Prasad Singh — 2011-06-20T06:30:47Z

Great men are seldom born. It is sheer good fortune of ours that in one decade of the 19th century, three great men were born in India: Swami Vivekananda on January 12, 1863, Rabindranath Tagore on May 4, 1861 and Mahatma Gandhi on October 2, 1869. Each one of them became a formidable figure in his sphere of work: Swami Vivekananda in religion and spirituality, Gurudev Tagore in literature, and Mahatma Gandhi in the freedom movement and public life. Swami Vivekananda was the first leader (…)

- 2011

Would Terrorism become a Thing of the Past: When and How?

Balmiki Prasad Singh — 2009-04-12T17:49:35Z

We are living in difficult times and in a dangerous neighbourhood. The spectre of terrorism has acquired alarming proportions. The story of terrorism from 9/11 of New York to 26/11 of Mumbai to 3/3 of Lahore is not a closed chapter. New areas are coming in its fold with a bearing on our lives and democratic governance.
Setting and Argument
The story of terrorism is not new. In contemporary history New York became a major victim of terrorism on one September morning in 1920. A car bomb (…)

- April 2009