Hindi Belt tightens for the BJP

BIHAR in 2020 witnessed a state assembly election where the JD(U)-BJP coalition emerged victorious, but not before it got a big scare. In coalition with Left parties, the RJD emerged as the single-largest party and the call of ‘unemployment’ by Tejaswi got a phenomenal response in the middle of a raging pandemic.Could UP finish what Bihar had just started?

The Explosion is Building Up

THIS was waiting to happen. From disquiet to unrest; the explosion raged across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in January. The trigger was the huge anomalies that surfaced on the announcement of results by the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) on non-technical popular categories (NTPC). The tests were in the first place, held in 2019 following the relentless pressure of potential candidates.

Right to Education can’t be compromised in the name of Religion

THE image of the young girls, clad in Hijab standing outside the school gate, demanding and at times even begging to enter inside their own school is a metaphor for how the Indian State under Modi is treating people whom they consider as “other”, an absolute denial of fundamental rights.

Budget 2022-23: Cutting-edge Technology to Pvt Companies but, Crutches to BSNL

WHILE placing the budget in the parliament, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, proudly announced that 5G service would be launched in this financial year. In the same breath, she announced that 5G service would be launched only by the private telecom companies. It means the public sector BSNL is going to be deprived of 5G technology.It is a known fact that the Modi government discriminated BSNL in 4G technology also. It is already seven years since 4G service was launched in India. Till date, BSNL has not been able to start its 4G service.

Inequality Kills; Systemic Changes Required, Earlier the Better

Impose a 1% surcharge on the richest 10% of Indians to reduce inequalityA 4% wealth tax on 98 richest families can take care of the health ministry for more than two yearsTHE gap between the top 10 per cent asset holders and the bottom 10 per cent is 500 times in rural India but 50,000 times in urban India, reported Oxfam, five years ago.

Prices of Essential Items are on Fire – Modi Govt. is Sleeping

ALTHOUGH opinion polls are notoriously unreliable as far as elections are concerned, one of the issues all opinion polls always tend to agree upon is economic problems. Recently, a big media house released its annual ‘mood of the nation’ survey results.While political questions like who will win, or who is the best were endlessly belaboured in media, not much attention went to other key results.

Why a Statue of Netaji Now?

THE India Gate in Delhi is an imperial monument constructed by the British government to commemorate Indian soldiers of the British Indian army who died in battlefields far from home, in Flanders, Gallipoli, Iran and elsewhere during the First World War (1914-18). Other Indian soldiers who died during Britain’s Afghan wars also had their names recorded on the monument. Later, a statue of King George V was installed under a canopy in the centre of the war memorial.Some years after independence, the king’s statue was unceremoniously removed and, since there were many suggestions as to whose

Affirmative Action Providing Level Playing Field

ON January 7th this year, the Supreme Court ruled that reservation of 27 per cent of seats in the all-India quota (AIQ) in medical colleges is not unconstitutional thereby enabling such reservation to be introduced from the 2021-22 academic session. Nearly two weeks later, on January 20, the court spelt out its reasoning in arriving at this ruling.

Struggle for the Republic; History is the Principal Site of Struggle

THIS was about five decades back in the mid-seventies. I was then a student at Jadavpur University. It was a time of internal emergency in the country. We on our campus had quite a few students from Palestine. They were not just progressive, but also active participants in the Palestine liberation struggle. One day some of them informed us that an important leader of the PLO was in Kolkata. The PLO operatives urged that progressive student activists meet him to discuss and exchange views and experiences.Naturally, we were excited. On a specific day, some of us went to the meeting.

Winds of Change in Uttar Pradesh

FAST-MOVING political changes in UP have forced political commentators and analysts who were predicting an easy win for the BJP in the assembly election to be held in February and March 2022, to rethink their political math. The exodus of several MLAs and three cabinet ministers from the BJP to the SP has upset the calculations of those occupying high office in Delhi and Lucknow too who are seeing the ground shifting beneath their ministerial chairs. It is incorrect, however, to think that the Yogi government is facing challenges all of a sudden. As early as 2018, more than 100 BJP MLAs,

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