THE deaths of a father and son, Jayarajan and Bennix, after brutal torture in a police station at Sathankulam in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu have caused widespread outrage. Equally shocking has been the attempted cover-up by the police authorities and the underplaying of the crime by the AIADMK government. It required the intervention of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to establish prima facie charges of murder against the police officers concerned and to order an investigation by the CB-CID.

THE petrol and diesel prices have been hiked daily for eleven successive days from June 7 to 17.  By these hikes, the retail price of petrol has increased by Rs 6.02 per litre and diesel by Rs 6.40 per litre. 

These daily hikes by the oil companies, at the behest of the government, have come at a time when the economy is contracting and demand is at an all-time low with unprecedented levels of unemployment and loss of incomes and livelihoods.

PRIME Minister, Narendra Modi, has hijacked the concept of self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat). He claims this is the way to revive growth and make the 21st century, India’s century. Behind such bombast lies a crude contradiction and deception.  The Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan special package announced to realise this goal has exposed the reality – the aim is to make India’s economy more dependent on international finance capital and to privatise India’s natural resources to benefit foreign and Indian big business.

THE Covid-19 pandemic has brought out the stark inadequacy and abysmal neglect of the public health system in India.  Even after 50 days of the lockdown, the Modi government seems to have not learnt from the experience of tackling the deadly virus.  In state after state, government hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of patients and the lack of treatment facilities.  The state of government hospitals in the hotspot of Mumbai provides a grim illustration. 

THE war on the Covid-19 virus is quickly transforming into a war against the working class in India. In parliament, in March this year, the government had stated that there are estimated to be around 100 million (10 crore) inter-state migrant workers. A vast majority of them would have lost their livelihoods with the lockdown being imposed. They have lost their places of stay and were driven to desperation by lack of food and shelter for their families.