SENIOR journalist, editor of an independent progressive weekly Gauri Lankesh was killed at her house in Bangalore, by unidentified gunmen. She was a vocal critic of the RSS-BJP and has spoken regularly against rising intolerance, through her weekly and through activism. Ironically she was also one of the main persons in the campaign to arrest the killers of Dr M M Kalburgi. Dr M M Kalburgi was murdered two years back. Now just a few days into this two year old murder, Lankesh’s assassination in the same way is even more shocking.
JAWAHARLAL Nehru, the architect of India's independent foreign policy, had prioritised non-alignment and the solidarity with the developing world as the main guiding force. The nation was guided by this policy till the late 1980's. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the historic Asian Relation Conference (ARC) hosted by India. The conference chaired by Nehru marked the arrival of India on the world stage. It was attended by many leaders from Asian countries which were on the verge of gaining independence.
ON September 3, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – or North Korea, as it is usually called by the media – tested a hydrogen bomb, with a yield estimated to be around 120 kilotons, eight times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. This, combined with the recent ICBM tests that show North Korea can reach the western shores of the US with its missiles, is not just a game changer between the US and North Korea stand-off . It is virtually game over.
CONDOLING the passing away of Comrade Subodh Mehta, in a condolence message sent to the CPI(M) Gujarat state committee on September 1, Sitaram Yechury, general secretary, has said that Comrade Subodh Mehta has been a lifelong fighter for the cause of the exploited sections of our people and dedicated his energy for advancing the struggle for the establishing an exploitation free socialist society in India.In his death, the Party has lost a steadfast fighter who remained uncompromisingly with the communist revolutionary cause and adherence.Yechury said that he has been closely associated wit
THIS year, the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) marks its fiftieth year as the most vibrant and combative union of college and university teachers.
ON September 1, S Anitha, who was a petitioner against the centralised NEET examination, committed suicide. Condoling her death, the Students’ Federation of India in a statement issued on September 2, said that the 17-year old dalit girl Anitha, who has done exceptionally well in academics had scored 1176 marks out of 1200 in the plus two exams under the Tamil Nadu state board, but could score only 76 out of 700 in NEET. She prepared for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) ignoring all hindrances.
THOUSANDS of people marched in the streets of Kolkata on September 1, raising anti-imperialist, anti-war mongering slogans. Left parties, along with left and democratic organisations organised the huge rally which crossed seven kilometre long way from central part of the city to north.Remembering the horror of the beginning of Second World War, the rally carried 79 colourful flags. Tablos, depicting global peace, defence of the earth from nuclear weapons, contours of US-India strategic relations were there.
THE fact that fascist elements in the US have started raising their sinister head and that Donald Trump has started showing his open sympathy for such elements is borne out by several recent incidents.
THE news about the economy has been continuously dismal in the past few days. All the data coming in shows that the economic slowdown has accelerated after demonetisation and the country is headed for a recession.First came Volume II of the Economic Survey which presented a gloomy picture of the overall economy. The growth rate of real Gross Value Added was 6.6 per cent for 2016-17 compared to 7.9 per cent for the year 2015-16.
IT is a big, unwieldy book in three fat volumes, with parts of it evidently incomplete. It was written nearly one and a half centuries ago, in a context that seems very different from our own.So why read Karl Marx’s Capital today? What insights can such a book provide to understanding current reality, in the form of a much more complex world that has become so much more globally integrated and technologically developed, of societies and economies that appear to be quite different from those of nineteenth-century England?