SOME of the studies done on decentralised urban governance have shown that the cities, barring a few states like Kerala and West Bengal, where the Mayor in Council governed the city governance, in majority of the states, the cities are considered mere adjuncts of the state governments.

ON February 14, 2020, the Supreme Court has lashed out at the government, for shielding the private telecom companies, which are dodging the payment of their licence fee dues. The private telecom companies, viz, Vodafone Idea, Airtel and Tata Teleservices have also come under fire, for not complying with the order of the Apex Court.

THE LDF government’s budget for the year 2020-21 is best described as an instrument of struggle of the people of Kerala against the regime of neoliberal economic policies imposed on the nation by the union government. The neoliberal onslaught on the nation, commenced way back during early 1990s, reached its zenith under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi.

FINANCE minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced during her second budget speech on February 1 that the government will list LIC in the stock exchange and sell part of its stake via Initial Public Offer (IPO). In justification of her proposal she said, “Listing of companies on stock exchanges disciplines a company and provides access to financial markets and unlocks its value. It also gives opportunity for retail investors to participate in the wealth so created.

A CALL for ‘rural hartal’ - grameen Bharat bandh on January 8, 2020 was given in the meeting of Central Kisan Council(CKC) of the All India Kisan Sabha(AIKS), on November 22, 2019. The call of grameen Bharat bandh was also endorsed by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Co-ordination Committee (AIKSCC), in a convention which was held on November 29-30, 2019 at Delhi.  Support to the January 8 industrial strike, a call given by the 10 central trade unions was also endorsed by the convention.