TWO activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) were hacked to death by Congress criminals on Onam night in Venjaramoodu, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Comrade Haq Mohamed (28), President of Kalinginmugham unit and Mithilaj (32), joint secretary of Thevalakad unit, were killed. Emerging reports suggest that the murder was meticulously planned and professionally executed with our comrades being held down and stabbed through the heart. Eyewitness accounts state that a gang led by Congress criminals stopped the victims who were on motorbikes and attacked them.

NOW that the government has decided to not to allow question hour in the ensuing parliament session, a group of mass organisations, civil society groups and others organised a ‘Janta Parliament’ from August 16 to 21. Every day there were two online sessions held on different subjects concerning the Indian people.

THE day of October 2, 2007, is important for rural sanitation workers in the state. The then Congress government appointed these employees on the same day through gram panchayats on a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,525 to keep the villages clean and tidy. The number of these employees in the state is about 11,000. The government gave the right to pay an honorarium to the gram panchayats, with this decision of the government, the foundation of forced labour and harassment was laid.

WHEN the Goods and Services Tax was introduced, and the states virtually gave up the power to levy indirect taxes which they had enjoyed under the constitution, the centre had solemnly promised that it would compensate them for a period of five years for any revenue shortfall arising from the shift to GST. The shortfall was to be assessed relative to what revenue should have been, assuming a 14 per cent rate of growth. It is this promise which had persuaded many states to fall in line behind the GST.

TWO news items about India have figured prominently, one a nearly 24 per cent drop in India’s GDP  the previous quarter and the other that India has taken over as the new epicentre of the global pandemic with its figures for new cases crossing even the US numbers. The 24 per cent drop in GDP for the second quarter is the biggest drop of any major economy in the world for a quarter. The comparable US figures are 9.5 per cent and Japan’s 7.6 per cent drop in the same quarter.