Twists and Turns
EDITORIALAs the West Asian crisis takes a new turn with strong indications that President Obama may launch strikes on Syria after securing the green signal from the US Congress, the fallout of such an...
View ArticleNarmada Jal Satyagraha Merits Wide Support
COMMUNICATIONDue to the highly unjust policies of the authorities relating to the Indira Sagar Dam Project (ISDP), the displaced and adversely affected people have been forced to start jal satyagraha...
View ArticleOn Communal Eruption in Western UP
MUSINGSI was born in Uttar Pradesh and spent my childhood and those carefree teenaged years in that State. I have travelled to those remote villages and locales because my father, an engineer by...
View ArticleEgypt: Pharaoh al-Sisi Sits Tight
The highly opportunistic stance taken by the “big powers” who are veto-holding permanent members of the United Nations Security Council has prevented that august body from articulating an outright...
View ArticleArchival Work of Contemporary History
BOOK REVIEWEmergency Retold by Kuldip Nayar; Konark Publishers, New Delhi, Seattle; first published: 1977; paperback edition: 2013, pages: 320.Emergency Retold is a new edition of a book on the...
View ArticleCorrecting Historical Injustice
The landmark Bill on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement 2013 brings an end to the era of forced land acquisition. It has replaced the...
View ArticleQuestion of Consciousness and Democracy — Debate Continued
I do believe this debate being carried on in the columns of Mainstream is very important given the setback in peoples' movements worldwide and also in the socialist states. I will try and add my views...
View ArticleBritain admits Torture in Kenya, but No One talks of it in India
IMPRESSIONSIn our preoccupation with petty politics—like history's most pointless Cabinet reshuffle—we fail to notice the significance of some breakthrough developments around us. How many of us notice...
View ArticleBritish Legacy in Education: Is it “Cultural Pollution”?
In an impressive seminar a noted Dalit columnist of The Pioneer, Chandra Bhan Prasad, had once said some years ago in Delhi that the Britishers “came too late to India and left too early”. India would...
View ArticleOn Education Policy
The data released recently by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development show that Goa is sliding sharply in the national education development index. It has slipped from the 13th place last year...
View ArticleMilitary Strike on Syria could be Obama's Waterloo
The Western (read US) military strike on Syria looks imminent. The plans for a “significantly larger” strike could include use of the long-range B-2 and B-52 bombers flying from bases in the US....
View ArticleObama Copying Bush
At the beginning of Obama's presidency, the present writer had written in this journal: “Obama under siege”. That was in the context of the circumstances of his becoming the President, with the sober...
View ArticleEconomic Mess Caused by Pranab and Chidambaram
That India is in an economic mess is known all over the world. What is not yet public is that the malaise was because of the wrong decisions which President Pranab Mukherejee took when he was Union...
View ArticlePentagon's Loss
From N.C.'s WritingsLast month was observed the twentyfifth death anniversary of General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's third military dictator, who was killed in an air crash in that country in August 1988....
View ArticleSupreme Task at Critical Juncture
EDITORIALThe situation in UP's Muzzafarnagar has turned grave. As we go to press the number of those killed in communal clashes in the area has risen to 48. Since the Samajwadi Party came to power in...
View ArticleJagjit Singh Lyallpuri: A Rebel from CPI-M
BOOK REVIEWby Tikaram SharmaMy Life, My Times: Journey of a Revolutionary by Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri; Publisher: Unistar; 2010; pp. 270; Price: Rs 300.As these lines were being typed, Jagjit Singh...
View ArticleFive Star Movement and Aam Admi Party: Can the Two Occupy Political Space for...
by Tamanna KhoslaThe Guardian has an interesting article on the surging sentiment for the Five Star Movement (M5S) in Italy. The voters are sick and tired of the current parties and are rallying behind...
View ArticleA New Role for India in Myanmar
Given the transition taking place in Myanmar from authoritarianism to democracy in the midst of ongoing communal and ethnic violence on the one hand and reform initiatives by the new regime on the...
View ArticleThreat to Constitutional Structure
From N.C.'s WritingsA situation of unprecedented confusion synchronising with the onset of serious crisis for the entire constitutional structure of the Indian state presents before the nation today....
View ArticleMy Second Innings: “Battling” for Urdu with the Chief Minister of Delhi
by Ather FarouquiDistinguished readers of Mainstream may remember my article, “Urdu Needs Kiss of Life and Not Myopic Policies” (vol. L, no.33, August 4, 2012), which was very critical of the policies...
View Article