THE BJP government is these days on an overdrive. Acting, it appears is rubbing on the entire party leaders. The difference between professional actors and professional politicians is more or less non-existent in the Party, with all of them showcasing their acting skills on the 'big stage'. Of course, for the prime minister, the world is a stage. He can perform anywhere. Remember, the dramatic entrance to the parliament? And the occasional choking of the voice and wiping of tears, particularly when he talks about the children of 'Bharat mata'.
FINALLY, it was the latest terror attack on Paris that may galvanise the international community into taking concerted and coordinated action against the threat being posed by the Islamic State (IS). The French President Francois Hollande has called for the formation of a “large alliance” to “decisively” take on the IS. President Hollande has not invoked Article 5 of the NATO alliance treaty which would have obligated all alliance members to militarily help France. This would have meant involvement of countries like Turkey which are playing a dubious role in the conflict in Syria.
The national organisations of students – All India Students’ Association (AISA), All India Students’ Federation (AISF), All India Students’ Block (AISB), Chhatra Parishad, JD (U), Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Student Front for Swaraj (SFS) – have jointly issued the following statement on February 28.THE systematic attack by the RSS-BJP on JNU has escalated over the last few weeks. Modi government has defended the ongoing crackdown on JNU, on the floor of the parliament.
CAMILO Torres, a Communist and a priest in Columbia, said “the best way to destroy a bridge is to campaign it is weak as old. In the initial period of Christianity, it is easy to silence a person by calling him a Christian. In the similar way, terming a person Communist will help you terminate him or her who stood up against the ruling class.” Camilo Torres was shot dead by the same ruling class he was fighting against. The ghosts of Hitler in India are using the word ‘anti-nationals’ to finish off all the resistance being built against its anti-people, anti-student policies.
The following is the statement issued by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) on February 25, 2016.The executive committee of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) finds that the rail budget presented in the Lok Sabha today falls far short of the expectations of the disability sector.While we welcome the promise made by the minister that all railway stations that are “under redevelopment” will be accessible to persons with disabilities, the minister has not addressed the question of making the overwhelming majority of the other
ON February 29, the budget for 2016-17 was presented in Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, after which the House was adjourned. In Rajya Sabha, the budget and fiscal policy statements were laid subsequently and then the House was adjourned.The next day, a notice was given by Md. Salim in Lok Sabha seeking permission to bring a breach of privilege motion against HRD Minister Smriti Irani but it was not admitted.
OVER one million rubber growers in Kerala are the worst losers. According to them, the union budget has neglected the sector which constitutes 12 lakh farmers nationally. The rubber plantation owners and small growers in the state were expecting at least Rs 500 crores from the centre to help the sector. Kerala has been looking forward to a rubber price stabilisation fund of Rs1000 crore and steep hike in the import duty. This has not happened. Making matters worse, the fund allocation to Rubber Board in 2016-17 is lower by Rs 29 crore compared to last year.
The union budget is a continuation of the BJP-led NDA government’s war on the students of the country.
The share of expenditure on education as a percentage of the total central budget is just 3.6 percent, which is 0.2 percent less than the revised estimates for the year 2015-16. The same figure in terms of the percentage of the total GDP, is a meagre 0.5 percent.
Allocations for school education have been cut from Rs 69,794 crores in 2015-16 to Rs 63,826 crores.
BEHIND the smokescreen of the pseudo-nationalist rhetoric of the Sangh Parivar and the Modi government, is a sinister design to malign and change the character of central universities. Starting from IIT Madras, University of Hyderabad, JNU and now AMU, the attack of the right wing forces on institutions of higher learning is spreading like an “infection which is turning into gangrene”. A surgical intervention is needed to restore the credibility and the sanctity of the constitution on the one hand and save higher education from this mindless destructive onslaught on the other hand.