Socialism and Emancipation of Labour

MARX’S unique concept of ‘mode of production’ implies production not in the narrow technological sense but a comprehensive unity of concrete relations between humans and nature captured by means of production and that between human beings themselves who consciously participate in the social processes of production defining production relations.Mode of production as a conceptual category helps us analyse the empirical regularities of history.

Is the Rupee Fall Over?

THE mounting pressure on rupee-dollar exchange rate is not going to ease out in the near future. In April 2021 one dollar was exchanged against 74.47 rupees which has touched 80.23 in September 2022 and exchange rate further fell to 83.2 per dollar on October 20, 2022.

Class Contestations on ‘Freebies’

IT has been almost an untold convention held by the pink papers and mainstream media that an expenditure from government exchequer that flows to the poor directly or indirectly are to be termed as ‘populist’ in political discourse and recently as ‘freebies’ in the context of ‘economic prudence’. A mirror image, in the lens of class, is the huge applaud the same media shower on policies that propose tax cuts or subsidies to capitalists.

Dwindling Growth, High Food Inflation, Low Employment

THE post-pandemic recovery in the world economy that picked up in 2021 is likely to slow down due to expectations of rising inflation, continuing war, restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged real estate slump in China as well as a slower than anticipated consumer spending in the US. While global growth rates are revised downwards from 6.1 per cent in 2021 to 3.2 per cent in 2022 and further down to 2.9 per cent in 2023, inflation expectations are high due to soaring food and energy prices. The average inflation rate in developing countries is forecasted to be 7.3 per cent.

Platform Economy: New Dimensions of Capital’s Control

ONE of the major changes visible in the organisation and control of the capital in the recent period has been the emergence of platform-based global giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba and Uber emerging as market makers, enjoying immense control over the market without producing any goods per se. In different phases of capitalism, we not only come across different forms of regulating capital but also of changing the structure of firms that defined ownership and control of companies.

Dimensions of Inequality in India: Rising Exploitation and Exclusion

THE neoliberal regime has forced upon rising inequality across the world. Despite the fact that such high levels of inequality creates instability to the current state of capitalism, the irony seems to be the fact that the system thrives on the rising gap between the rich and the poor.The share of profit in national income has increased across the world together with a drastic fall in the share of wage income.

Towards Self-Reliant Industrial Growth

ONE of the major promises of independent India was to embark upon a path of self-reliant economic development and industrial growth breaking free from the international division of labour imposed by the imperial order. India happened to be one of the countries in the East with some industrial base and until 1938 the average industrial growth rate in India was higher than the world average.

Neoliberalism, Workers’ Heterogeneity and Class Formation

CREATING heterogeneity of labour through the production process had been the strategic objective of capital since its inception. As capital becomes more concentrated and centralised and acquires greater power it essentially produces its dialectical opposite, heterogeneous labour. In periods of capital’s ascendancy, therefore the heterogeneity of labour and its various categorisation becomes predominant and sometimes these differences are celebrated as post-modern identities that make ‘class’ invisible and irrelevant.

Profit out of Pain and the Rising Inequality

NOTHING but the astonishing alienation from the realities of India, on the part of some academics close to the policy circle, can explain the futile attempt to show that inequality in India has declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. A widely publicized exercise based on national private consumption expenditure data from National Accounts Statistics (NAS) claims that inequality and poverty have declined in India. NAS consumption expenditure data is derived as a residual measure net of other macro aggregates.

Agnipath: Scheme to Create ‘Low Cost’ Jawans

EMPLOYMENT in the armed forces has been one of the most desired careers for a large section of early entrants in the job market in India. Primarily because of the prestige such jobs carry and also because governments provide salaries, allowances and retirement benefits that are unmatched by any other jobs with similar eligibility. Since jobs in these segments involve life risks and often demand ultimate sacrifice in protecting the normalcy of civilian life, every government considers these jobs as extremely important and crucial for building long-term military capacity.

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Peoples Democracy

economic policy & Labour