Drug Pricing: Prime Minister Misleading People

AFTER US President Donald Trump accused the drug companies with his “get away with murder” comment and thereafter meeting the top executives of US drug companies on January 31 on drug pricing, regulation and trade; and as the “Pharmaceutical companies are under fire around the world as a wave of new treatments for cancer and other serious conditions reach the market at ever rising prices,” the prime minister of India Narendra Modi discovered that it is not the drug companies and policy deficiency but the doctors who are the real culprits for high prices of medicines in India.So, the prime m

Belt and Road Initiative: Blinkered View of Government

INDIA has isolated itself by not participating in the Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing on May 14-15. To justify its non-participation, the Modi government has questioned the motives behind the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative taken by China which is linking countries and regions representing 60 per cent of the world’s population and 30 per cent of the global GDP. China launched this initiative in 2013 with the aim of reincarnating the old silk road in a contemporary form.

Thinking together

Q. High Court justice Karnan has been sentenced to six months in prison by the Supreme Court for contempt of court. Is this punishment justified? What is the stand of the CPI(M)?G Ramesh, Chennai Ans. Justice C S Karnan was a sitting judge of the Kolkata High Court. Earlier he had been serving as a judge in the Madras High Court since 2009. Throughout his career, Justice Karnan has behaved in an outrageous fashion violating all norms of higher judiciary.

Immiserising the Peasantry to Fill Corporate Coffers

THE BJP had come to power three years ago promising “Achhe Din” for the farmers and agricultural workers as well as toiling masses. It had promised an end to farmers’ suicides, ensure remunerative prices for crops according to the Swaminathan Commission recommendation of at least 50 percent above cost of production, more investment in agriculture, expanded employment opportunities and higher wages under MGNREGA, irrigation facilities to all farms, effective insurance, pensions, scientific land acquisition legislation to protect interests of the peasantry and much more.

Saharanpur: Rampage by Communal-Casteist Forces

THE attack on dalits in Shabbirpur village in Saharanpur district is symptomatic of the communal and caste forces unleashed in Uttar Pradesh after the BJP victory in the assembly election and the formation of the Adityanath government.Immediately after the new government assumed office, attacks on Muslims and dalits began. The closing down of meat shops and abattoirs directly affected the livelihoods of lakhs of Muslims and dalits. What is ominous is that with Yogi at the helm, rabid communal and upper caste forces are asserting themselves.

Conflicting Processes of Justice

TWO judgments, one from the Supreme Court in the Nirbhaya case and that of Bilkis Bano in the Mumbai High Court provide a snapshot of differing standards of justice. The Nirbhaya case had aroused the conscience of India in an unprecedented way, calling into action thousands of young people who had perhaps never earlier joined street protests. The bravery and courage of the young woman Jyoti, the brutality of the crime against her, now detailed in the judgment, the utter injustice and horror of her death symbolised so much that is rotten in our system, it reflected so many real fears and ex

Willing Youth – Expose the RSS

RSS is a very slimy organisation. It claims that it is a ‘cultural’ organisation and has got nothing to do with politics. Its declared objective is to ‘carry the nation to the pinnacle of glory’ and ‘bring to life the all-round glory and greatness of our Hindu Rashtra’. With these objectives, it dabbles with elections, decides on the heads of various levels of government wherever it is possible and influences how those governments need to go about their work.

ODISHA: To Have a Better India, First We Have to Save India: Yechury

AS part of a two-day session of the CPI(M) Odisha state committee, a seminar on ‘Challenges Before India Today’ was organised on May 3 at the Institute of Engineers hall in Bhubaneswar.CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, addressing the gathering of a cross-section of people, called upon them to be vigilant and fight back the danger posed today by communal forces led by the RSS-BJP. “Whether India, as we see it today, will remain the same? A combination of many religions, communities, castes – will it remain unaffected by the onslaught unleashed by Hindutva forces?” he asked.

Civil War: Fighting Counter Revolution

The victorious October Revolution saw the gathering of the counter-revolutionary forces who unleashed a Civil War assisted by armed intervention by fourteen imperialist and capitalist countries. For three years – 1918 to 1921 – a Civil War raged in Russia. The class conscious workers of Petrograd and other cities became the core of the new Red Army which battled the White Guards. It is only after defeating the White Guards and the imperialist armed intervention that the new Socialist State was consolidated. The Civil War saw the sacrifices of tens of thousands of class conscious w

KERALA: Centenary of October Revolution Observed with Fervour

A VIBRANT march of red volunteers was organised in Kollam city observing the centenary of the Great October Revolution. 140 platoons from 140 local committees marched to the city. Around 5000 volunteers participated in the march which began from the QAC grounds. It culminated into a massive rally at Asramam Maidan. CPI(M) general Secretary Sitaram Yechury along with state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan received salute from the volunteers.The rally was inaugurated by Sitaram Yechury. CPI(M) district secretary KN Balagopal presided over the function.

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