HALIMA Khatun is a middle aged woman, who has been detained at the Kokrajhar Detention Centre in Assam for over 10 years. She has four children who live with her husband in Nagaon district. Except for her, the entire family has been declared as an “Indian” in the NRC process. Similar is the story of Arti Das who is also from Nagaon; she has been lodged in Kokrajhar Detention Centre for the last three years, while her husband is detained at the Tezpur Detention Centre. But their two children are ‘bonafide’ Indian citizens.
THE week-long 10th India-Vietnam People’s Friendship Festival was held in Vietnam from August 12-18, 2019. The delegation consisted of a 14-member team of professors, lawyers, writers and social workers and another 13-member cultural team to present culture of Punjab to Vietnamese people.
All India Peace And Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO) general secretaries Pallab Sen Gupta, R Arun Kumar and another member from the headquarters, Sadashiv were part of the delegation.
IN the first phase of the Pondicherry University Students’ Council elections held on August 28, SFI secured a majority of seats contesting alone for the third consecutive year. SFI, along with the SFI supported independent candidates, obtained 27 seats, thus becoming the single largest organisation in the process.
INDIA is in the grip of a deep economic crisis, the depth of which is being under-estimated by mainstream media, apologetic economists and, of course, by the ruling government itself. What is officially known and analysed are things like the dip in economic growth (it is down to 5 per cent), declining investment, stagnating bank credit, fall in private consumption expenditure and other such macro-economic indicators. These are important and must be analysed because they prick the dream balloon of India becoming a superpower with a $5 trillion economy in the near future.
IN his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the government’s decision to establish the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), a single head for the three services - army, navy and air force. The CDS, a four star officer is expected to be senior to the three other service chiefs.
AFTER a long, text-book Chandrayaan-2 mission since launch on June 22, right up till a mere 2 km or so above the lunar surface, the much awaited soft landing of the Vikram Lander in the south polar region of the Moon on September 7, 2019 could not be achieved due to reasons that are yet to be determined. From what little is known at present, it appears that control of the Lander was lost at the very last stage of its descent, and it made a hard landing or, to put it in plain language, crashed, although how badly, is still not known.
REITERATING the trust upon the LDF government and the CPI(M), people of Kerala have generously contributed to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund with a sum of Rs 22,90,67,326. In the backdrop of heavy floods, CPI(M) branches across the state had organised a massive collection from August 13 to 18. Respective Party district committees deposited their amount to the CMDRF.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury was the first politician outside the Valley to visit Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370. He too had to go through the treatment that opposition leaders under detention are getting in Kashmir.
Yechury visited the state after the Supreme Court gave a favourable order in a habeas corpus petition seeking the whereabouts of CPI(M) Central Committee member and four-time MLA Mohd Yousuf Tarigami.
THE Modi government’s second stint in office has completed a hundred days. Though it is a short span of time, the genes of this government have been made starkly clear – an authoritarian regime marked by the fusion of corporate capital and Hindutva.
The past 100 days have seen an unprecedented assault on democracy in Jammu & Kashmir; the denigration of parliament, the subversion of constitutional bodies including the judiciary and the authoritarian onslaught on the opposition and all forms of dissent.
Left parties organised a state convention at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram, Hyderabad, on September 10 demanding the Indian government to protect the democratic rights of the people. State secretariat member of CPI(M), D G Narasimha Rao, presided over the meeting. K Srinivas, editor of Telugu daily Andhra Jyothi attended the meet as the chief guest and said that people all over the country are talking about Kashmir but the situation there is not as most people imagine.