TAMIL NADU: Brutal Killing of People Demanding Closure of Sterlite Industries

SINCE February 2018, the people of Thoothukudi town and its nearby villages were up in arms demanding the immediate closure of Sterlite Industries operating since 1996 in violation of all rules of environmental bodies and suggestions given by the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court.

Four Years of BJP Central Government

THE singular feature of the completion of four years of this BJP central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the near complete reneging of the promises made to people in 2014, on which basis, this government assumed office through a majority of their own in the Lok Sabha. The country was promised `achhe din’. The country was promised development and prosperity.

AFTER KARNATAKA

THE Modi government is observing its completion of four years in office under the shadow of the debacle the BJP suffered in Karnataka. This has imbued the fourth anniversary with a political significance of its own.The image of the BJP and its top leaders, Narendara Modi and Amit Shah, has been badly dented in the way they tried to form a government in Karnataka by suborning the governor and using other unscrupulous means to lure defectors from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular).

On Subversion of Democracy in the Ongoing West Bengal Panchayat Poll

THE 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of India expresses grave concern about the extreme threat faced by grassroots democracy in West Bengal. This is clearly manifest in events leading up to the panchayat elections in 2018, where the entire election process has now been rendered uncertain. It may be recalled that during Left Front rule, panchayati raj institutions in the state were celebrated in India and abroad as shining examples of democratic decentralisation. Panchayat elections were held under TMC rule for the first time in 2013.

Walmart’s Acquisition of Flipkart and What it Means for India

WALMART’S 14 billion dollar acquisition of Flipkart has sent the Indian financial press into a tizzy: the biggest deal in India ever, the biggest ever global ecommerce acquisition, etc. What it means for the Indian retailers, who employ about 40 million people, having Amazon and Walmart, two of the most brutal employers in the world dominating the Indian market, does not find place in these writings. Or that the BJP government has been in clear violation of its election promise of not permitting foreign capital to enter multi-brand retail.

The So-called “Consumers’ Interest”

IN the wake of the take-over of Flipkart by Walmart, one is once again hearing an argument which one has often come across before, namely that having a large multinational in this sphere, which can do global sourcing for its products, will make goods cheaper for buyers and therefore be in the “consumers’ interests”.

Condemn the Brazen Aggression against Syria

THE 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) unequivocally condemns the unilateral and unjustified imperialist aggression of Syria by the United States and some of its NATO allies.Over a hundred missiles, targeting three facilities in Damascus and Homs, were launched from ships and planes. Last year, President Trump accused the government forces of using poison gas and ordered missile strikes on a Syrian airbase.The missile strike on Syria by the armed forces of the United States, France, and the United Kingdom is a crude instance of imperialist aggression.

SFI Opposes Fee Hike in BITS Institutes

THE central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India, in a statement issued on May 16, has strongly opposed the exorbitant increase in fees imposed on the students of Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS). The annual tuition fee in the Pilani campus of the institute has been increased this year to Rs 1,59,500. It needs to be underlined here that in the last decade the institute has seen consistent average fee increase of 17 per cent every year.However, BITS is certainly not an isolated phenomenon.

KERALA: RSS Goons Kill CPI(M) Leader

IN yet another act of brutality and terror of the RSS, one more CPI(M) worker was killed on May 7, in Mahe, a part of Puducherry state near northern border of Kannur district. Comrade Kannippoyil Babu, former councilor of Mahe municipality and CPI(M) Mahe local committee member was gruesomely murdered by the RSS goons.Comrade Babu had escaped a murder attempt last year.

On Dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act And Organised Violence against Dalits

ON March 20, 2018, the Supreme Court passed an order that significantly diluted the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The court issued guidelines to guarantee protection for public servants and private individuals from “arbitrary and immediate arrest” under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.The judgment will have adverse consequences, particularly in the context of the growing number of atrocities that affect the country’s most oppressed sections.

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