Mainstream, a current affairs weekly, was founded in 1962 by the doyen of Indian journalism, Nikhil Chakravartty, who played an exceptional role in defence of press freedom through the columns of this journal. It has been published from New Delhi ever since and has been providing objective analyses of divergent contemporary issues. It closed down for a short period in the last phase of the Emergency (January 1977) instead of submitting to the arbitrary pre-censorship regulations of the prevailing regime.

Mainstream also publishes documents from political parties and social movements and viewpoints relevant to global and regional affairs. Mainstream got its name from Masses & Mainstream published from 1948 to 1963 from New York.

Mainstream is being edited by Sumit Chakravartty along with H. Kapoor, the Executive Editor.

About the Collection: The bound volumes of Mainstream covering the period September 1962 to 2020 (with some gaps) have been donated by Sumit Chakravartty for preservation in Ashoka Archives. The back issues of the weekly are relevant for the study of foreign affairs, economic matters, science & technology, industrial policy, ecology & climate change and all other contemporary issues. The volumes will be available for consultation in the reading room of the archives and will also be available on the website after digitisation.