Jobless in Modi Raj

INDIA is facing a deepening crisis on the employment front. According to a new Employment-Unemployment (EU) Survey conducted by the Labour Bureau, unemployment in India is running at a five year high of 5 percent of the workforce who are fifteen years and above. Over a third of the people at work are employed for less than a year. Based on the Census 2011 figures, 5 percent of those above fifteen years would work out to 2.3 crore persons; further, 35 percent underemployed would mean nearly 16 crore persons.

Oppose this Authoritarian Onslaught

WHAT has been happening in the National Capital Territory of Delhi is truly scandalous. Ever since the AAP government was formed after the February 2015 assembly election, there has been brazen and calculated attack by the central government to hamper the elected state government. The naked use of central power through the Lt. Governor and the Delhi police (which is under central jurisdiction) has more or less sidelined the state government and the elected legislature.

Misusing Armed Forces for Hindutva Ends

USUALLY, Vijayadashami day has seen two addresses by the Hindutva forces – one by the RSS chief in Nagpur and the other by the Shiv Sena chief in Mumbai. This year there was a third pole – the speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a Ramleela gathering in Lucknow. This is what has made the politics associated with Dussehra distinctive this year.

End Strident Jingoism, Reduce Tensions

A WEEK after the official announcement about the surgical strikes conducted across the Line of Control, there is much which is unclear about this operation and what it has achieved. Through briefings to the media, it was put out that seven terrorist launch pads were targeted by two groups of special forces. It was also claimed that 38 terrorists and their assistants were killed.

Ten Years after Khairlanji: New Impetus for Struggles

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 marks the tenth anniversary of the Khairlanji atrocity. The brutal murder of Surekha Bhotmange along with her daughter, Priyanka, and her two sons, Sudhir and Roshan (visually challenged) in this small hamlet in Bhandara district of Maharashtra revealed many old and new facets of the violence that dalits are subjected to.

No Respite in Syria

YET another ceasefire attempt has fallen through in Syria. After protracted negotiations the US secretary of state John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had announced a ceasefire agreement to come into force from September 12. It was also announced that both sides had decided that if the ceasefire is successful, the US and Russia would launch joint military operations against the Islamic State and the Al Nasra.

After Uri, What?

THE attack on the army camp in Uri by four heavily armed militants has resulted in the death of 18 soldiers of the Indian army. This vicious assault has raised the question of how India should respond. Earlier, the attack on the IAF base at Pathankot in January this year had posed a similar problem for the Modi government.

Kerala: Stop These BJP-RSS Attacks

THE BJP is trying to spin a false narrative in Kerala about the increasing attacks on BJP and RSS workers. The BJP president Amit Shah has announced a five member team headed by one of its general secretaries Bhupendra Yadav to visit Kerala to enquire about the growing “incidents of attacks on BJP workers”.

Halt Disastrous Path in Kashmir

The all-party parliamentary delegation visited Jammu and Kashmir on September 4 and 5. The central government agreed to this visit after much delay. This was the first political step taken in the background of the mass protests which began in the valley nearly two months before. Though there were no meetings scheduled with the leaders of the Hurriyat, some members of the delegation made an effort to meet some of the Hurriyat leaders. Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Yadav, D Raja and Jayaprakash Yadav belonging to the CPI(M), JD(U), CPI and RJD respectively met Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Yasin Malik,

A Dangerous Precedent

The opening day of the monsoon session of Haryana legislative assembly saw a Jain muni addressing the legislators. This was an unprecedented violation of constitutional and parliamentary norms.

By inviting the Jain muni, Ratan Sagarji, to address the legislature, the BJP chief minister M L Khattar has struck at the root of the secular character of the State which ordains separation of religion from politics.

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Peoples Democracy

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