THE call for statewide bandh given by the CPI(M), CPI, Congress and YSR Congress seeking special category status for Andhra Pradesh was peaceful across the state and evoked good response from the people. The bandh was observed in all the important cities and towns of the state.
Several shops at various centres remained closed till evening as the traders too joined the bandh. Various marches were organised by the CPI(M) activists in different parts of the state.
CONSIDERABLE confusion has been spread by the corporate media that the Rajya Sabha approved the GST Bill on August 3. In this context, it must be understood that, as the Indian constitution stands at present, a Central Tax on Goods and Services cannot be imposed by the central government. The constitution needs to be amended to allow the legislation of a centralised Goods and Services Tax.
It is observed that the structures of autonomous district councils are formed only in the North Eastern Region (NER) of the country, though the vast bulk of tribal people are found outside the NER, such as in Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat etc where this means of development has got missed owing to absence of such autonomous bodies.
DEFENCE minister Manohar Parrikar symbolises much of what is wrong with the Modi government. Parrikar, as the minister for defence, occupies a vital position in the union cabinet. But this has not deterred him from spewing intolerance and bigotry; making bellicose statements against Pakistan and compromising the image of the armed forces. More worryingly, he seems bent upon converting the Indian armed forces into a subordinate ally of the Pentagon.
THE CPI(M) and the Left Front and the people supporting them in West Bengal have been facing unprecedented violence and attacks by the Trinamool Congress after the Assembly elections were over. The nature of the widespread violence and terror has not been fully comprehended outside the state given the fact that the mainstream media has stopped reporting these events after the victory of the TMC.
“DALIT atrocity is Gujarat model, that is why Modi is silent”, said CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat after visiting Samadhiyala Village in Junagadh, Gujarat. A CPI(M) delegation led by Brinda Karat with P K Biju MP, Arun Mehta, Central Committee member and many other state leaders met Sarviya Babu Bhai and Kavita Bai at their home, parents of the young men who were brutally beaten and humiliated by a vicious mob of gau rakshaks. They told the delegation that they were not at all satisfied with the investigation.
Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch (DSMM) organised a protest on July 25 against the increasing atrocities on dalits in Gujarat and seeking a ban on the cow protection committee vigilantes. Hundreds of activists in spite of the rains stayed put and expressed their anger through the protest. Brahmjeet Singh, president DSMM–NCR, presided over the protest meeting.
Today, wealth inequality in India is much sharper than ever before. The top 1 percent that owned a little more than a third of India's wealth in 2000, now own more than half the wealth in the country. In this same period, the share of 99 percent of India's population went down from almost two-third to less than half.
What is the Party’s response to the promotion of Yoga by the central government? Even Left-led governments are announcing that they will also introduce Yoga classes in schools. Some people are criticising this as being part of the ‘Saffronisation Programme’.P Shaju, TrivandrumYOGA has become very popular all over the world not only because many of the asanas practiced as part of yoga have proved to be very beneficial to people suffering from a wide variety of ailments.
GIVING a major jolt to the United Democratic Front (UDF), Kerala Congress (M) chairman and former finance minister K M Mani boycotted the front’s meeting held at opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala’s official residence, on July 25. In a clear message to the UDF that the party will no longer take the insults to its chairman lying down, none of the KCM leaders also attended the meeting, throwing the allies into jitters.