Vol. XLVIII No. 13 March 31, 2024

Workers Betrayed! Defeat BJP!!

THE ten years of Modi led BJP government saw a relentless attack on the livelihood and working conditions of the workers. The hard won rights of the workers are sought to be curtailed to facilitate their unbridled exploitation by the big corporates. The BJP government has subsumed twenty nine existing labour laws into four...

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Kejriwal Arrest: Rise Unitedly in Protest

THE arrest and detention of Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi, by the Enforcement Directorate is a turning point in the steady erosion of democracy in India. This brazen assault on the democratic system is a first in many respects. It is the first time a sitting chief minister whose party commands more than four-fifth majority in the assembly has been arrested, for the first time the head of a national political party has been put behind bars...

Once More on Poverty Figures of India

THE other day the chief executive officer of Niti Aayog made a fantastic claim, that the poverty ratio in India had fallen below 5 per cent according to the 2022-23 consumption expenditure survey data. His claim was based on the fact that the per capita consumption expenditures of only 5 per cent of the population in 2022-23 fell below the poverty-lines for that year for rural and urban India, arrived at by updating, on the basis of consumer price indices, the...

Establishing a Digital Surveillance and Censorship Regime

MODI government is systematically working to set up a surveillance and censorship framework for the digital domain, which seeks to undermine our fundamental rights of free speech and privacy. The genesis of many of these initiatives predated the Modi government. However, as with many other examples of policy continuity, the Modi government has put these efforts on steroids and taken them to such extremes that they...

Article 370 Revocation: Separating Rhetoric from Reality in Jammu and Kashmir Situation

THE ongoing situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh demands a thorough examination due to the prolonged absence of democratically elected governments for over five years. This has led to a severe crisis across various fronts, including skyrocketing unemployment rates, rampant poverty, crippling debt burdens, and escalating security concerns that have profoundly...

Hindutva and Social Justice Cannot Go Together

THE cat was let out of the bag when Prime Minister Modi openly declared his support for sanatana dharma. In September of last year, when Udayanidhi Stalin made sharp and critical remarks suggesting that sanatana dharma opposes the notions of social justice and equality, Modi staunchly defended it. He rebuked those who criticised sanatana dharma, accusing them of harbouring a hidden agenda aimed at its destruction. He also goaded his...

Unraveling of Electoral Bonds and its Criminal Underpinnings

FOR the last ten years, the Modi government has unfailingly assumed a high moral ground against corruption. The first boast was on the ground that the BJP will change the paradigm and break from the past in taking corruption head-on. ‘Na khaunga, Na khane dunga’ was the prime minister's familiar refrain! It was then further refined that his role would be that of a vigilant watchman – ‘chowkidar’. The BJP’s...

WB: Left Front Announces First List of Candidates

ON March 14, the West Bengal Left Front announced its first list of 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The list was released by Left Front chairman Biman Basu in a press conference. Later on March 17, the Left Front also nominated RSP candidate Mili Oraon to contest in Alipurduar, bringing the total number of declared candidates to 17, with room for potential additional candidates from Congress and others. The first...

TN: 'Modi's Guarantee to People was Hunger, Poverty and Bulldozer'

"PRIME Minister Modi had declared (about corruption), 'na khaunga na khane dunga' ( neither would I eat, nor would I allow anybody else to eat), but the electoral bonds reveal that his party is the greatest eater of corporate funding ever heard of, said Brinda Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member. They claimed to wipe out corruption and it is now clear that they lied to the nation and cheated...

A Statement on the Undermining of Elementary Freedoms in India

WE, the signatories to this statement, write with the greatest of concern because we admire the democratic structures that India embraced since gaining independence from colonial rule, including a set of constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights for every citizen. This entire democratic tradition is being fundamentally undermined by some recent developments in that country. We write at this particular moment to...

Delhi: Alipur Factory Fire: Exposing the Realities

TEN workers were killed in a massive fire and subsequent explosion that occurred on the morning of February 15, 2024, at a paint factory in Alipur, situated on the northern outskirts of Delhi. This incident is not an isolated one within Delhi's factories. Several other horrific incidents have occurred in recent years, including the Grain Market fire in December 2019 which claimed 43 lives and left 56 injured, the Firecracker Factory...