THE recent announcement by the union ministry of converting a part of what Vodafone-Idea (VI) owes to the government into its shareholding, is another step in the long story of crony capitalism and so-called reforms in the telecom sector. The government has taken a 35.8 per cent shareholding in VI to reduce the two hundred thousand crore rupees that VI owns the government, and postponed payments of the rest for four more years.
A CRUCIAL component of the imperialist system is the colonisation of third world minds that helps to sustain it. This colonisation is pervasive, but here we shall discuss only academic colonisation and that too relating to the social sciences.
THE recent Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai cases targeting Muslim women show the deep anti-women and communal mindset combined with the use of tech tools and social media platforms. Perhaps not so surprising is that the police authorities appear to have been very casual in their investigations when the Sulli Deals had emerged last year targeting about 100 Muslim women. It only reacted after Sulli Deals reappeared as Bulli Bai in early...
WORLD Inequality Report 2022 underlines the sharp divide between the rich and the poor that occurred as a result of neoliberal policies pursued by global capital using the hegemonic and asymmetric architecture of global institutions. The report clearly shows how the class divide has become relatively more important than the regional divide in determining global inequality.
ONE month after the suspension of the historic farmers’ struggle on December 11, 2021, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) met at the Singhu border on January 15, 2022. Over 250 leaders of various Kisan organisations attended. The four-member presidium of the meeting comprised Yudhvir Singh, Ashok Dhawale, Joginder...
A STATE-LEVEL convention was held at Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhavan in Agartala on January 8th at the joint call of state units of the central trade unions(CTU), class and mass organisations of the state. The convention has resolved to rescue the country from the onslaughts of the corporate-friendly government. It has given a call to make the two-day nationwide strike on February 23rd and 24th, a...
AS people all over the world ushered in the new year, a major accident took place due to illegal mining in Khanak Dadam hills of Bhiwani district of Haryana. In this January 1 accident, five labourers died and two were seriously injured. There was a big explosion in the hill of Dadam at 9 in the morning in which seven labourers and two pokland machines and four dumper vehicles were buried under the stones.
IN November 2020, the Moroccan government sent its military to the El Guerguerat area, a buzzer zone between the territory claimed by the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (the area claimed by the Polisario Front of the Sahrawi people). The Guerguerat border post is at the very southern edge of Western Sahara along the road that goes to Mauritania. This is the first time a ceasefire agreed upon between Morocco and Polisario in...
AN abnormally accumulated burden of Rs 43,672 crore is looming large to be imposed on power consumers in Telangana. The failure of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government to get aggregate revenue requirement and tariff proposals filed before the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) by its two power distribution companies – TSSPDCL and TSNPDCL - for three years from 2019-20 to 2021-...
THE All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) have decided to organise a joint campaign against communalism and attacks on minorities from January 26-30, 2022.
