ONE important feature of neo-liberal capitalism in a third world country like India is the chasm it introduces between the working people and the intelligentsia. In the colonial period in India several members of the intelligentsia took it upon themselves to highlight the misery to which the Indian people had been subjected by colonialism; and of course many joined the active resistance against colonialism, suffering incarceration and deprivation in the...
THE revised Keralam budget presented by the UDF Chief Minister, VD Satheeshan, is politically retrograde, empty in economic arithmetic, and scandalous, with two tales of corruption. Let us begin with the two scandals that broke out while the budget was being presented and debated in the Assembly. The budget opened with the alleged fiscal bankruptcy of the previous government. Yet it did not propose any new measure to...
The post-election legislative session serves as the ultimate crucible in a parliamentary democracy, transforming campaign rhetoric into concrete accountability. In the wake of a significant transition ending 15 years of the anti-people TMC government in West Bengal, the state assembly has emerged as the primary arena for a rigorous assessment of the incoming BJP administration's strategic plans. Mustafizur Rahman (Rana), the...
“CLAIMING that 125 days of employment will be guaranteed after dismantling MGNREGA is no different from cutting down a tree and promising shade.” For the past two decades, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act MGNREGA) has served as a minimum livelihood safeguard for crores of rural poor, agricultural labourers, women, Dalits, and Adivasis across the country. The Central Government...
We would not have, under normal circumstances, written to you. Given the fact that our democracy is in jeopardy, we have chosen this unusual path. It is only when democracy is a collaborative exercise that it can be sustained. Only then our nation will realise its destined glory. Parliament, an essential pillar of democracy, enacts laws. These are tested on the touchstone of their constitutionality by, perhaps, the...
THE news of the loot of donations from Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir may have come as a shock to innocent devotees. But what has happened is only a continuation of what had been taking place in the name of the Ram Mandir from the very beginning — while all of it was kept out of the public eye amid the deafening frenzy of religious mobilisation. To borrow the famous words of Abraham Lincoln, this can be described as the story of a robbery...
On July 1, the Communist Party of China (CPC) marked the 105th anniversary of its founding – a milestone that invites not only celebration but careful study. Few political organisations in modern history have exercised such a profound influence over the destiny of their own nation while simultaneously reshaping the wider international balance of forces. Founded in 1921 by...
In the film Jai Bhim, every question Sengeni asks, while making endless rounds of a police station searching for her husband Rajakannu, leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. Though it is a cinematic story, a disturbingly similar tragedy is unfolding in real life in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. A mother stands outside a police station asking...
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the proposed amendment to the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which seeks to change the entitlement criteria under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) from a household-based system to a per capita system. The proposed change of enhancing food grains to 7 kg per person offers no benefit to larger households, as their entitlement will continue to remain capped at 35 kg per...
All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, All India Democratic Women’s Association, All India Kisan Sabha and Centre of Indian Trade Unions have jointly given a call for nationwide protests against the proposed National Food Security Amendment Bill by the Department of Food and Public Distribution to cut down ration quotas from 35 Kg per household to 7 kg per person.
Polit Bureau StatementsCPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statements
Condemn BJP Government’s Disgraceful Position on Venezuela |
