The Slowdown in GDP Growth

WHEN the CSO had released advance estimates of GDP for the October-December quarter of 2016-17, within which demonetisation had occurred, the fact that the economy had still shown a 7 per cent growth rate, had been an occasion for much celebration in government circles.

US Exits Paris Agreement

US President Donald Trump made the shocking, but not unexpected, announcement last week that the US is pulling out of the Paris Agreement (PA) on climate change. 195 countries had endorsed PA last December and 147 nations have since ratified it.

The Communal Path to Neoliberalism

THE BJP and the RSS are not only whipping up a frenzy of communalism and nationalism, but also using such sentiments to aid neoliberalism. With all the hue and cry over the central government’s jolting decisions in the recent past, what comes to fore is the discussion on communalism and nationalism, while its direct correlation to neoliberalism is being sidelined, which is precisely what the primary focus should be on.If we look at what has happened to agriculture over the last few years, it is a telling tale of government apathy and disinterest.

Creating Human Tragedy in the Name of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

THE Notification of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 brought by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government is a direct attack on livelihoods of millions of poor peasants engaged in dairy farming, people who are engaged in leather industry and earn their livelihood from sale of meat.

Anti-Farmer Stance of BJP Governments

IT is a bitter irony that the day the news appeared in the newspapers that five farmers were killed in Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh due to police firing, the same newspapers carried full page advertisements about the success in the agriculture sector in the three-year rule of the Modi government. Farmers in the districts of Mandsaur, Neemuch, Jhabua, Ratlam and Ujjain were on strike and agitating since June 1 for fair prices for their produce and loan waivers.The farmers threw vegetables and emptied milk tankers on the roads. The response of the Shivraj Chouhan government was to sh

Protests Against Barbaric Attack on Nabanna March

On May 23, protests against the barbaric attack at Nabanna Avijan were held across West Bengal. CPI (M) Polit Bureau member and state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, Left front Chairman Biman Basu leading the protest rally in Kolkata.

What is a Derivative?

AT a class I took for SFI activists on May 29 on political economy, someone asked me the question: what is a derivative? My answer, I could feel, was unclear to the audience. Since other comrades too would be having this question in mind, I thought I should attempt, hopefully, a clearer answer here.A derivative is a contract through which the contracting parties trade in risk. The idea of a contract through which risk is traded is not a new one; indeed it is familiar to us all.

TAMIL NADU: Total Failure of AIADMK government

FOR more than eight months since the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jeyalalithaa was hospitalised in late September 2016, the state of government in Tamil Nadu has been nothing short of disastrous for the people of the state. Following the demise of Jeyalalithaa and the subsequent split in the AIADMK, the rival factions of the AIADMK have been far more preoccupied with the struggle for the capture of the AIADMK and the survival of the government than with anything else.

NORTH EASTERN COUNCIL MEET: Tripura CM for Substantial Increase in Outlay for NEC

Below we publish excerpts of the speech delivered by Manik Sarkar, chief minister of Tripura at the 66th North Eastern Council Meet held in New Delhi on May 29, 2017I WOULD like to suggest to hold two meetings of the NEC in a year.

BAN ON CATTLE SALE FOR SLAUGHTER: Is it the First Step in Corporatising the Meat Value Chain?

THE Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 were published on May 25, 2017, just days before the commemoration of the third anniversary of the Modi government. Through these rules, the government has effectively dealt a blow to small producers and the farmers who sell their unfit animals to traders and commission agents in the livestock markets. Further, the foundations of meat export industry are also steeped in informal supply lines and trading networks which supply cattle to ‘modernised slaughter houses’.

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