Mainstream Weekly

Legacy We Uphold

SC — 2007-08-18T04:52:04Z

As India completes sixty years of its existence as an independent nation, our thoughts invariably go back to those immortal freedom fighters who waged numerous struggles in varied forms, both violent and non-violent, to shake off the foreign yoke and usher in the dawn of freedom from alien rule. We also recount the extraordinary, and at times superhuman, sacrifices that they underwent in the battle to ensure our country's emancipation from the oppression and exploitation of the British Raj (…)

- August 18, 2007

The Fire in Our Hearts

2007-08-18T04:49:34Z

Sixty Years of Azadi, Yes. But forget You made Salt at Dandi that shook the Empire We are Salt-sellers in the bottomless pits of power-brokering salivating for more and more and more. We stop at nothing the rock salt buries all.
But forget You said to wipe every tear from every eye We are not geared for that: heard about the India-Bharat divide? Artificial tears are packaged for India only; the real ones are in Bharat. We are also stockpiling our cellars of our world class city (…)

- August 18, 2007

Towards New Horizons

2007-08-18T04:45:01Z

The remembrance of the day when the sun set on the British Raj in this land of ours is more than a mere ritual to be gone through year after year. No doubt it is the day when one feels proud of being a son or daughter of India, proud of having been part and parcel of that vast concourse of humanity that forced the alien ruler out and unfurled the flag of freedom over this country which used to be described even in the British-prescribed textbooks as the epitome of the world.
In the welter (…)

- August 18, 2007

Some Reflections on 60th Anniversary of our Independence

2007-08-18T04:43:19Z

At the time of its independence India was a nation with the wearisome heritage of a war economy largely financed by inflation but unaccompanied by any significant increase in national production. There were a few major and attendant complications confronting the nascent economy, namely, (a) influx of refugees; (b) the emergence of the Kashmir dispute and military developments which led to the PoK; (c) serious food shortage which had to be met by raising imports on the one hand and controlled (…)

- August 18, 2007

Amartya Sen's False Logic

2007-08-18T04:34:19Z

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has, in an interview given to The Telegraph, a Kolkata daily, laid emphasis on ten points. These are: (i) that there is need for priority to industry in West Bengal; (ii) that Bengal was, in the past, one of the major industrial centres in the world and that it has to come up as one of the most prosperous areas in the world as an industrial base; (iii) that the need for priority to industry emanated from the fact that the products of industries yield many times the (…)

- August 18, 2007

Alternatives to Globalisation : A Search

2007-08-18T04:32:18Z

I. Introduction
Colonial capitalism prevailed in the world from the close of the 15th century to the middle of the 20th century. Towards the latter half of the 19th century, there arose nationalist movements in various colonies which led to the ‘liquidation of the ‘colonial power structure'1 in the post-Second World War era. As the colonies were underdeveloped during the colonial period, there was a ‘revolution of rising expectations'2 in the peoples of the Third World. This generated a (…)

- August 18, 2007

Police Reforms at Sixty

2007-08-18T04:29:08Z

The Kiran Bedi controversy over her alleged ‘supersession' for the post of Commissioner of Police, Delhi, even though she holds an equal rank, heading the only reasearch and development orgnisation on police in the country, came at a time when the Union and State governments are under the Supreme Court whip to bring about police reforms immediately. It is not incidental that transparent and tenured appointment of police chiefs are among the major reforms suggested by the Apex Court. (…)

- August 18, 2007

Gandhi, Democracy, and Days of Struggle: Political Scientists Views on M N Roy

2007-08-18T04:24:15Z

POLITICAL SCIENTISTS' VIEWS ON M.N. ROY
When M.N. Roy asked Gandhi to send a message for his weekly magazine Independent India, Gandhi responded with the advice: “Render mute service.” Was this a signal to Roy not to write anything critical of Gandhi or Gandhism?
In the analysis of India's freedom struggle, and the role of Mahatma Gandhi in that political journey, how do political strategists and thinkers—past and present—judge the Mahatma as an exemplar of democracy? M.N. Roy stands (…)

- August 18, 2007

India at 60: Justice Still Delayed

2007-08-18T04:19:25Z

As independent India turns the page to 60, speeches and fireworks and flag-hoistings galore mark the anniversary. A flood of euphoric words and music generated by the State, Media, and merchants, will echo for a while. The Prime Minister's hesitant voice is on record with some renewed affirmations of India's resolve to stand tall, and to take its place among world leaders. But India at 60 needs to take stock of facts on the ground: they continue to challenge any claim of genuine progress (…)

- August 18, 2007

Momentous August

2007-08-18T04:16:25Z

[(Musings)]
On the 15th of August India would be celebrating the Sixtieth year of its Independence from British rule after a long, hard, and unique non-violent struggle, (not always non-violent, though). Sixty years is the time (in our culture) for introspection, weighing of gains and losses, of a renewal of faith in ourselves and the world around us. As it happens, August is also an august month for some very decisive moments in our history and the world. August was the month, on the 9th (…)

- August 18, 2007