India BurningHow rampant privatisation led India to a massive disasterThe Indian NeroLeaders leave Indians to die in hands of private sectorThe Indian DisasterNeo-liberal policies leave citizens gasping for breathTODAY(May 8th), I got a call from one of my state cadre (Himachal Pradesh) IAS officers posted in Delhi. The call was mainly to check each other’s well-being owing to the present pandemic. One of the points the person narrated is the extremely precarious situation prevailing in the country.
HISTORIANS, artists, architects, cultural and theatre personalities, intellectuals, teachers, and many such eminent people signed a joint statement that was prepared by Ananya Vajpeyi, Supriya Gandhi , and Vivek Gupta. This statement was initially signed by over 100 people and was published in a section of the media.
GANGA and Yamuna, the rivers that give birth to extensive plains of north India, have been more of a cultural entity than mere geographic bodies for the people of India. It is easy to talk about Ganga in different contexts, but understanding the river and the special place it has in the conscience of the country, is as complex as understanding India.Jawaharlal Nehru, in his last will said: “The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved by her people, round which is intertwined her racial memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats.
THE Communist and Workers Parties through a joint statement have strongly and unequivocally condemned the Israeli aggression meted out against Palestinians in Jerusalem as well as the continued military bombardment upon Gaza which has resulted in the killing of scores of Palestinian civilians and the maiming of hundreds more, among them children.Israel’s brazen violation of international humanitarian law and international law has continued for decades now, aided and abetted with the full support of imperialist forces, and without any meaningful intervention from international institutions t
THE Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the Israeli aggression on Gaza are not disparate or coincidental events. They are part of the long war waged by the Israeli State against the Palestinian people – in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank and the suppression of Arab-Palestinians within the pre-1967 boundaries of the state of Israel.The present conflict is one episode in the history of occupation, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing and the setting up of an apartheid regime in the occupied territories.
ON March 24, 2020, Narendra Modi had announced that the country would go into a lockdown after four hours! This nation-wide lockdown was to last till the end of May, after which there were local lockdowns but not a general one. It brought acute hardship to millions of the working poor, among whom the migrant workers’ woes received global attention.
IN an uncontrollable surge in Covid-19 cases all over the country, vaccinating the population of the country has become a top priority but as a result of insensitive and erroneous policies of the government and its decisions, there has been an enormous shortage of vaccines.
AFTER ascending the chair of the chief minister for the third time, Mamata Banerjee has done little to address the gargantuan task of combatting the rising number of patients infected by the killer coronavirus. Insufficient hospital beds, ICUs, oxygen beds, were quickly taking the situation out of control. As the numbers started spiralling, people ran from pillar to post to lay their hands on oxygen cylinders.
THE Makineni Basavapunnaiah Vignana Kendram (MBVK) and its sister centres across the state, in a move to bring solace to the needy during the Covid-19 second wave, have opened Covid isolation centres across the state.The second wave of Covid has created havoc throughout the state and it has become difficult to secure hospital beds.
INDIA is no stranger to shortages, but there was one shortage nobody would have dreamt of in their most horrific nightmare – shortage of space and firewood at cremation grounds and burial grounds. And yet, that is a spectacle that has become routine in several cities across India. Families of those who had lost their loved ones waited for hours in queues to cremate their dead and paid astronomical sums to buy the firewood needed to do so. Many were cremated outside the crematoria.