THE Supreme Court had severely indicted the Bihar government and the state administration in the sexual exploitation of minor girls in Muzaffarpur shelter home case and recent death of more than 200 children due to acute encephalitis syndrome.The situation in the state has further worsened due to devastating floods inundating the entire north Bihar. The people require immediate help but government has totally failed in its responsibility, though the NDRF and SDRF have earned respect of flood victims owing to their commendable work in flood relief.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Brinda Karat has addressed a letter to Prakash Javadekar, minister for environment, forest and climate change, government of India on the ongoing petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Forest Rights Act. The full text of the letter sent on September 13, 2019 is published below.THIS is to draw your attention to the ongoing petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Forest Rights Act.
LEFT student and youth organisations in West Bengal had organised a massive movement resisting barbaric attacks of police and administration, stirring up the atmosphere of increasing resistance in the state.12 Left student and youth organisations, including the Democratic Youth Federation of India and the Students’ Federation of India, had started a huge campaign on the question of jobs, creation of industries in the state, and access to education for all. DYFI led a signature campaign through mock applications for jobs.
“FEUDAL landlords exploited the people in the olden days and now the capitalist landlords and neo-rich in the rural areas are snatching the land from the poor”, speakers in the agricultural workers rally lamented at Challapalli in Krishna district on September 15. The rally was held after the 28th state conference of Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Workers Union, which was held from September 13-15.Brinda Karat, member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau, greeted the gathering and spoke about the heroic struggles led by the united Communist Party in the region against the Challapalli zamindars.
THE statement by union home minister, Amit Shah, that it is essential for India to have one language and it is Hindi that can unite the country has not come as a surprise given the stand of the RSS and the Hindutva forces. Amit Shah was also indirectly stating that Hindi should be the national language. V D Savarkar was the first to call for “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan”. The RSS has been advocating “One nation, One language, One culture”.
HALIMA Khatun is a middle aged woman, who has been detained at the Kokrajhar Detention Centre in Assam for over 10 years. She has four children who live with her husband in Nagaon district. Except for her, the entire family has been declared as an “Indian” in the NRC process. Similar is the story of Arti Das who is also from Nagaon; she has been lodged in Kokrajhar Detention Centre for the last three years, while her husband is detained at the Tezpur Detention Centre. But their two children are ‘bonafide’ Indian citizens.
IN the first phase of the Pondicherry University Students’ Council elections held on August 28, SFI secured a majority of seats contesting alone for the third consecutive year. SFI, along with the SFI supported independent candidates, obtained 27 seats, thus becoming the single largest organisation in the process.The central government has been extensively pushing their interests of privatisation of education through the fund cuts and UGC norms. The Pondicherry University has in turn responded by administering the draconian policies upon the students’ community.
INDIA is in the grip of a deep economic crisis, the depth of which is being under-estimated by mainstream media, apologetic economists and, of course, by the ruling government itself. What is officially known and analysed are things like the dip in economic growth (it is down to 5 per cent), declining investment, stagnating bank credit, fall in private consumption expenditure and other such macro-economic indicators.
IN his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the government’s decision to establish the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), a single head for the three services - army, navy and air force. The CDS, a four star officer is expected to be senior to the three other service chiefs.The lack of strategic culture in India is often blamed on the prevailing higher defence management structure in the country.