Vol. XLVIII No. 11 March 17, 2024

ECI: Alarming Development

THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is alarmed by the sudden development within the Election Commission of India. One of the election commissioners, who had three years remaining before retirement, has resigned, and the resignation has been formally accepted. With one of the commissioner positions already...

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Election-Eve Manoeuvres

THREE developments have taken place in the last week, on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections – one is positive and the other two are negative. The first issue is the Supreme Court’s order directing the State Bank of India to submit to the Election Commission by March 12 the details of electoral bonds and asking the Election Commission to put it up on their website by March 15. This order comes in the wake of SBI’s appeal for a time of four months till June 30 to submit all the...

Capitalist Trap for Scientific Advances

THERE is a paradox at the core of the efflorescence of science that has occurred over the last millennium. In essence this efflorescence has the potential to increase human freedom immensely. It increases the capacity of man within the man-nature dialectic; scientific practice aims to go beyond the “given” not just in a once-for-all sense but as a perpetual movement through incessant self-questioning, so that this practice is potentially a collective act...

India’s MIRV Missile: Double-Edged Gain

ON March 11, 2024 India successfully conducted its first test of a new Agni-V missile with Multiple Independently-targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, together termed the “Divyastra (celestial weapon) Mission.” To those unfamiliar with the arcane world and terminology of nuclear weapons and missiles for their delivery, a MIRV missile carries on a single rocket several warheads, each of which can be programmed to travel in different...

Stop Moves for Hindutva Rashtra! Defeat BJP!

THE ten years of the Modi government have seen a serious assault on secularism and steps to desecularise the Indian State. The BJP-RSS have sought to implement the Hindutva communal ideology by targeting the minorities, particularly the Muslim community, and seeking to convert them as second class citizens. The various Hindutva outfits have unleashed violence against the minorities with the patronage and protection of the BJP-run state...

CPI(M) Delegation Visits Violence-Hit Haldwani

1. The unfortunate events of February 8, leading to violence, police firing, loss of lives, injuries, loss of livelihood was a consequence of the decision and action of the administration to bulldoze a madrasa and a masjid, even while the case was posted for hearing on February 14, by a Bench of the High Court. The argument of the administration that the plea for a stay on the demolition was not accepted by the High Court thus the...

No India-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Without Consultation with States: AIKS

THE Narendra Modi led BJP government is said to be on the verge of concluding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Free Trade Association comprising of four rich developed European nations namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The earlier Congress-led UPA government and the present BJP-led NDA government have carried on secret negotiations since January, 2008 to...

Ten Years that Crippled the Independent Media

INDEED, it is doubly so today, for the bulk of journalists in India, on the eve of what is billed to be the costliest democratic election seen in India, with a new era of hop step and jump defections gaining momentum. This is part of the general picture, of a vicious attack on democracy where one can also see the independent and critical press receiving its worst battering in recent years as the last ten years indicate. In this atmosphere, a new...

Starvation is a War Crime: Note from Israeli Genocide against Palestinians

SPEAKING in Rome, Italy, the head of the United Nations World Food Programme Cindy McCain said, ‘If we do not exponentially increase the size of aid going into the northern areas’ of Gaza, ‘famine is imminent. It’s imminent’. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the genocidal Israeli war, and the Palestinians in Gaza are on the verge of famine. Palestine’s Permanent Observer...

Maha: Cotton and Soyabean Farmers’ State Convention

THE AIKS Maharashtra state committee organised cotton and soyabean farmers' state convention at Majalgaon in Beed district, in the Marathwada region on March 7, 2024. Over 1,000 farmers from various districts took part. The main objective of this convention was to draw attention to the plunging prices of cotton and soyabean, the two main crops in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, regions which unfortunately lead the...

AP: Protests Held at SBI Branches Demanding Disclosure of Electoral Bonds

THE Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded immediate disclosure of information regarding electoral bonds, as ordered by the Supreme Court. Protests were organised at SBI branches throughout Andhra Pradesh on March 11, in response to the Party's call. During the protest at the SBI main branch in Vijayawada, Party state secretary, V Srinivasa Rao, accused the ruling BJP of conducting...