Peoples Democracy newsletter

Peoples Democracy newsletter

Road Safety Bill Aims at Privatisation of Transport Sector

The All India Road Transport Workers’ Federation has issued the following statement on June 29.THE Draft Road Transport and Safety Bill 2015 aims to privatise the Core Motor Transport Sector and to hand over the entire sector to corporates. It is surprising to note that some MPs had written asking for the placing of the Bill in parliament in the forthcoming monsoon session. The Bill aims at replacement the existing Motor Vehicle Act rendering lakhs of workers jobless in the name of road safety. The Bill is anti-people and anti-worker.

Modi Meets His Waterloo at NSG

PRIME Minister Narender Modi had made extra diplomatic efforts to secure a seat for India in the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). However, despite his lobbying and intense drama, during the two-day meeting of the group members in Seoul on June 23-24, India failed to get a seat in the club of nuclear suppliers. Why did Modi meet his Waterloo at NSG in spite of his efforts to win over the American imperialist-led western capitalist countries? Where did Modi go wrong in his handling of powerful countries of the world whose support was essential for India’s entry into NSG?

Thinking Together

1. The north eastern region of India is surrounded by foreign countries, about 98 percent of the boundary having been bordered internationally. Thus the region appears almost detached from the mainland of the country, at the same time having no mutual contact with neighbouring countries. Inside the region, the states are separated from one another by hill tracks resulting in the own-styled growth of the states in respect of food habits, races and languages, economy, employment, culture etc. So the people of these states generally bear identities specific to the concerned states.

New Constructs of Nationalism and the Media

The following is the text of the N Ramachandran Memorial Lecture delivered by Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary in Thiruvananthapuram on June 28, 2016. The lecture was organised on the occasion of presentation of N Ramachandran Award. INATIONALISM is a concept that, with its central features of fellowship, establishing a sense of community, was the basis of the national movement – where many streams flowed, but aimed eventually to overthrow foreign imperial rule and allow a hundred flowers to bloom in the garden called India.

Bad Loans of Banks

THE burden of bad loans of the banks has worsened in the last six months according to the latest Financial Stability Report of the Reserve Bank of India. According to the report, the gross non-performing assets (NAPs) ratio has risen sharply from 5.1 percent last September to 7.6 percent in March this year. The share of large borrowers of gross bad loans increased to 86.4 percent and their share of total loans is 58 percent in March 2016. According to one estimate, corporate debt worth Rs 6.7 lakh crore is facing the risk of default.

Venezuela: The Next Target

FRESH after their success in implementing regime change in Brazil through patently undemocratic means, the right wing in Latin America, aided and abetted by their allies in Washington, have now set their sights on Venezuela. The mainstream newspapers in the United States are busy writing the obituary of the Left in the American continent. An electoral setback for the Left in Argentina, where the Peronists lost the presidency by a narrow margin earlier in the year, was welcomed as great news in the West.

Towards the New National Policy on Education (NPE)

MODI government had undertaken an exercise of formulating the New National Policy on Education (NPE) immediately after assuming the office. However, the media reports suggest that the finalisation of the policy document may take a few more months. HRD ministry’s reluctance to make the draft report public has led to speculations among various circles that the new NPE will be used to further the Hindutva agenda.

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