Professor Randhir Singh

Professor Randhir Singh, Marxist thinker, activist and teacher passed away on January 31, 2016, at the age of 94. His immense popularity as a teacher gave him almost a cult status, which however remained irrelevant to him personally. It was his activism, combined with his intellectual engagement as a communist ideologue, that was relevant for him.

Defend the Employment Guarantee Scheme!

AS I write, roughly 10.3 million workers return home as the sun sets on 4.9 lakh worksites across the length and breadth of this vast country under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. About 23 percent are Scheduled Castes, and 17 percent are Scheduled Tribes. With a failed monsoon and drought behind them, and fall in the growth rate of real wages, this employment and wages could offer the much needed succor from the consequent misery and even check distress out-migration.

Alternative Agricultural Policies Necessary for Development of Bihar

THE All India Kisan Sabha and the Prantiya Khetihar Mazdoor Union have jointly organised a one-day seminar on alternative agricultural policies for the development of Bihar in the era of neo-liberalism. From all accounts, it was a very rich experience where veterans of peasant movements were joined by Patna-based intellectuals and teachers who were unanimous that the agricultural scenario and the development of Bihar is intrinsically linked with the successful implementation of land reform.

Bengal Turning into ‘Hub of Criminals’ under TMC Rule

WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has a penchant for using the word ‘hub’ in her speeches so as to project “industrialisation” in the state but, in reality it is turning into a hub of only criminals and anti-socials.

Anganwadi Workers Score Decisive Victory over Unwilling Govt

ANGANWADI Workers scored an emphatic victory over an unwilling Chandrababu Naidu government as the GO effecting hike in honorarium for them was issued on February 6, 2016.The honorarium of Anganwadi workers has been enhanced from the existing Rs 4,200 a month to Rs 7,000, while that of Anganwadi helpers from Rs 2,200 to Rs 4,500 and it will be implemented from April 1, 2016.The hike may be modest but it has come only after bitter and protracted struggles as the government has been adamant on the genuine demands of the workers.

The Zika Crisis Needs a Global Response

GLOBAL concerns about a new viral pandemic have started making headlines barely weeks after resolution of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The virus responsible for panic buttons being pressed, with the WHO declaring a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, is the Zika virus. Threats to health at a global scale in the form of epidemics caused by viruses are now too frequent to view these threats as one-off events.

Commodities and Democracy

CAPITALISM is a “spontaneous” system, in the sense that it is a self-driven entity propelled by its own immanent tendencies.

Disability Rights Organisations Raise Concern

The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) and National Federation of the Blind (NFB) have jointly issued the following statement on February 9.

AIAWU Demands Doubling of the Budgetary Outlays for MNREGA

THE All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), in a statement issued on February 10, has called on the agricultural workers of the country to unite against the attack on their most effective social security law, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Thinking Together

More than 65 years after our Constitution was passed, is it not time to do away with reservations based on caste? Is it not true that all poor people should be given the benefit of reservation in government jobs and educational institutions?R K Singh, Bulandshahr, UPRESERVATION for socially, educationally and economically backward castes is a provision in our Constitution. This has been given wide acceptance because of the long history of social discrimination suffered by those belonging to the Scheduled Castes (earlier known as ‘Untouch

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