Institutional Murder Most Foul: Unite to Fight

A TRAGEDY struck triggering a wave of shock and outrage across the country. Around 2.30 pm on July 5, when before the Bombay High Court bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar took up the bail application of the octogenarian Stan Swamy, senior advocate Mihir Desai, his counsel announced that Dr Dsouza of Holy Family Hospital Mumbai who was treating the jailed Jesuit priest wanted to make a statement. He informed the bench, “It is with a very heavy heart I have to inform you that father Stan Swamy has passed away”.

People-Centric Reforms: Not Profit Centric

We are perpetually asked: Are you pro-reform, or, anti-reform? No reform is in the abstract. Every reform has content; a purpose. These determine whether the Left supports any particular reform or opposes it. The Central issue here is whether the reforms are in the interests of our people, their livelihoods and strengthening the country’s economic sovereignty. This has been our approach all through these decades of economic reform in India. This continues to be our approach.THREE decades of economic reforms in India come in the backdrop of the continuing unprecedented struggl

Constitution and Right to Protest

THE Delhi High Court while granting bail in the UAPA case connected to the north-east Delhi violence, for three detenues, has stated, “it seems, that in its anxiety to suppress dissent, in the mind of the State, the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting somewhat blurred. If this mindset gains traction, it would be a sad day for democracy.” This applies to numerous cases in which any form of dissent is termed anti-national.

Coercive Centralisation, NOT “Cooperative Federalism”!

THE Economic Times of June 23, 2021 has reported that, in a blog posting “Reforms by conviction and incentives” on a social media site, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed that “an innovative approach to policy making tempered by centre-state partnership during the Covid pandemic helped the states raise an extra Rs 1.06 lakh crore in 2020-21”.

Caste Division in MGNREGS a Recipe for Disaster

THE union rural development ministry has asked states for data on caste basis in the works of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The ministry stated that the details of workers belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) sections should be mentioned separately. Since the inception of the scheme in 2006, there was no such circular from the central government to the states. For the first time employment under the scheme is being sought to be divided on caste lines, which reveals the real agenda of the BJP government.

Political Economy of Higher Prices of Petroleum Product

MANY arguments are floated to defend what is rather indefensible. The unprecedented rise in the prices of petroleum products has the potential to make governments unpopular.The argument often put forth is that prices of petroleum products are determined by global market forces. The governments have no role to play.Prices of petrol and diesel were indeed deregulated in 2010 and 2014 respectively, though India has done away with administrative pricing mechanism (APM) during the first NDA regime in 2002.

The Union Govt and Compensation for Families of Covid Victims

THE union government’s submission in the Supreme Court on the question of compensation to families of Covid victims is both characteristically brazen and callous, and completely unsurprising.Following PILs filed in the Supreme Court in May of this year seeking a compensation of Rs 4 lakhs per Covid victim to the bereaved families, the Court sought the response of the union government. On June 11, the centre told the SC that issues raised in the pleas, seeking directions for ex gratia of Rs 4,00,000 to the families of those who have died of Covid-19, are "genuine" and are under consideratio

Modi Govt Paralysed as Job Losses Reach Dire Heights

THE number of employed persons in India has plummeted in the past few months by about 2.5 crores and the unemployment rate has zoomed up to about 12 per cent, indicating the immense misery that Indian people are facing. Coming as it does when the brutal second wave of Covid-19 pandemic is just about beginning to abate, and after over a year of suffering the carnage caused by this pandemic and its mishandling, the country’s people have been crushed under unprecedented economic burden.

Modi Government’s Covid Vaccine Policy

THE central government’s Covid vaccine policy has to be seen in the background of its healthcare policy, which mainly is the privatisation of entire healthcare system-including national health policy and the drug policy.DRUG POLICYEstablishment of public sector pharma companies, Patent Act 1970 and Drug Prices (Control) Order 1979 were the three instruments with which India could become self-reliant in almost all medical products, including vaccines, at economically affordable prices; and major supplier of generic (non-patented) medicines to different countries of the world

Kerala’s Pro-people Budget in Covid Times

THE return of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to power in Kerala in May 2021, with an unprecedented mandate, was driven by an extraordinary record of governance on multiple fronts. On the one hand, the economic policies of the central government led to falling economic growth rates, rising unemployment and poverty and shrinking public revenues. Kerala was particularly severely affected by many of these misadventures in policy.

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