Mainstream Weekly

Tata Group hounds a whistleblower | Upal Chakraborty

Upal Chakraborty — 2025-01-18T20:34:09Z

An intriguing criminal case (Case No. CRR 2540 of 2024) has come up in Calcutta High Court and is expected to unravel the unholy nexus between corporates, criminals, Govt officials and Police. Notices have been issued to the Govt of West Bengal, a Tata Group company, the insurance regulator IRDAI, the Chaudhary Charan Singh University (erstwhile Meerut University) and an individual by the name of Mr. Tarun Samant.
The original FIR was registered in the year 2020 in the Park Street Police (…)

- 2025

The changing face of employment in the 21st century | Upal Chakraborty

Upal Chakraborty — 2025-01-04T02:22:47Z

There are developments in the global economy where established, time-tested models are going for a toss and right inside the heart of global capitalism

- 2025

West Bengal: Skirmishes at Mominpur | Upal Chakraborty

Upal Chakraborty — 2022-10-15T01:47:19Z

by Upal Chakraborty *
Mominpur is a locality in Kolkata familiar to me personally because of various reasons.
The most vivid memories date back to a period in the late eighties when I recollect my father taking up a consultancy assignment with a pharmaceutical company in that locality after his retirement. The owner of the company was an eccentric person with a penchant for late-night discussions. His meets meetings normally commenced around 7 pm, and continued till 10 or 11. After (…)

- 2022

The farmers' struggle and the Swaminathan Commission recommendations | Upal Chakraborty

Upal Chakraborty — 2021-11-26T23:39:03Z

by Upal Chakraborty *
The long-drawn struggle of the farmers has resulted in the Government unilaterally scrapping the three Bills. The farmers view this as a partial victory while the apologists for the Government maintain that the farmers are shifting goalposts. The latter contention is not at all true. The demand for a legal sanction for the MSP and implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations on the exact quantum have been long-standing demands included in the recent (…)

- 2021

Rafale controversy — the mystery deepens | Upal Chakraborty

Upal Chakraborty — 2021-11-12T23:19:30Z

The Rafale controversy has its origin in the decision to purchase 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) by the Indian Air Force (IAF), as announced by the Ministry of Defence on the 28th of August, 2007, through a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the procurement of 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) fighters.
It was only after 5 years, on the 31st January 2012, that the Ministry of Defence of the then UPA Government announced that Dassault Rafale had won the MMRCA competition to (…)

- 2021

Pegasus — obfuscating the obvious | Upal Chakraborty

Upal Chakraborty — 2021-07-30T17:00:00Z

by Upal Chakraborty *
The 'Pegasus' spyware was conceived as a Trojan horse with soldiers sitting stealthily inside, ready to strike at the earliest opportunity. Conceived, developed and marketed by the NSO Group of Israel, it has, in reality, no horses or soldiers but is a piece of code sitting inside one's phone

- 2021

The fate of a whistle-blower in a Tata company | Upal Chakraborty

Upal Chakraborty — 2020-12-11T18:34:25Z

by Upal Chakraborty *
The Whistle Blower Act was passed in the year 2011. Ostensibly intended to "provide a mechanism to investigate alleged corruption and misuse of power by public servants and also protect anyone who exposes alleged wrongdoing in government bodies, projects, and offices

- 2020