The Expansion of BRICS

THE 15th Summit of the BRICS held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 22-24, 2023, concluded with its expansion. Six new countries have been invited to join the group from January 1, 2024. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, UAE, Ethiopia and Argentina now join Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in the BRICS. This is the first time after the formation of BRICS (not counting the expansion of BRIC to BRICS) that the forum has been expanded. According to reports, 40 countries have expressed their interest to join this group, while 22 countries have sent in their formal applications.

Adani Affair: No Cover-up

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on August 31FRESH evidence has emerged about the Adani group’s manipulation of stock prices of its companies to inflate their value and assets. The Financial Times and The Guardian have, based on inputs from the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, revealed how two close associates of Vinod Adani used an investment fund in Bermuda and set-up shell companies to buy millions of dollars of shares in the Adani companies.The report also shows that the SEBI was looking into the matter o

Onion Prices Zooming Up to the Moon

Apart from the usual weather issues, is anybody investigating the collusion among big traders and price manipulation through hoarding?WHILE onion prices have been in the backbreaking Rs30-50 per kilogramme range in retail markets, it is remarkable – and intriguing – that wholesale prices in the four major onion producing states have risen relentlessly over the past month.

Homage to Comrade Sarojini Balanandan

COMRADE Sarojini Balanandan, a veteran leader who played an important role in building the women's movement in Kerala, passed away on August 29, 2023 at Kochi. She was 86. She was the former national vice president of the All India Democratic Women's Association and president of the Kerala state committee.

Targetting Muslims in Educational System

THE shocking incident of a seven-year old Muslim boy being slapped by fellow classmates on the order of the teacher taking the class must not be seen as an isolated event. That the school is a small private one in a remote village in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh cannot be a reason to treat this bigotry as an aberration.The teacher-cum-owner of the school, Tripta Tyagi, is seen explicitly identifying the boy as Muslim and asking his classmates to come forward one by one to hit him. There is no doubt that the child was singled out for this type of harsh punishment because of his

The Many Colours of Hydrogen and the Scam of Carbon Capture

THE fossil fuel industry, particularly the oil and natural gas lobby, always has new cards. Earlier, the fossil fuel industry came up with carbon credits: We, the rich countries, will burn coal, oil and natural gas so that we can continue with our current lifestyles but "compensate" by planting trees in poor countries. Creating biological sinks for fixing carbon is a viable solution, but carbon credits, a market-based "solution" for creating carbon sinks, do not work.

Issues Concerning MGNREGA

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat had written a letter to Giriraj Singh, union minister of rural development on August 30 drawing his attention to the negative impact of several policy decisions taken by the government regarding MGNREGA.

Kerala Shows the Way: Says No to Centre’s Smart Meter Project

IN a historic move, on August 25, 2023, the Kerala government declared its decision to not implement the central government-imposed TOTEX model prepaid smart metering project. This notorious TOTEX model prepaid smart metering initiative, operating under the framework of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), is designed to generate profits for private corporations such as Adani and TATA.

How Modi Govt has Saffronised Education

WITH the formation of the RSS-BJP central government under the leadership of Narendra Modi in 2014, a national level saffronisation campaign in education began in right earnest. After returning with a huge majority in 2019, this campaign reached its pinnacle. In this second phase, the National Education Policy (NEP) was implemented in the entire country by bypassing the parliament amidst the calamity of Covid pandemic and ensuing lockdowns. The basic purpose of this National Education Policy-2020 is the policy of centralisation, commercialisation and communalisation.

CPI(M) Delegation Visits Muzaffarnagar

A CPI(M) delegation comprising Polit Bureau member Subhashini Ali and John Brittas, member of parliament, Rajya Sabha visited the family of the young Muslim boy on August 30, who had been so cruelly treated by his teacher who is also the owner of the school.The delegation met Irshad and Rubina, the boy’s parents, and the young boy in their joint family home in village Khubbapur, Muzaffarnagar. They are poor people. Their two older sons are working in Chandigarh.

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