Nigeria: The Scourge Called Boko Haram

THIS year has witnessed a dramatic spurt in terrorist related violence in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous state. The radical Al Qaeda affiliated Islamist group, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for a series of massacres and bombings that have rocked the city of Maiduguri and other towns in northern Nigeria since the beginning of the year. The group once again attacked the capital Abuja in the second week of April. The terror attack at a busy bust station in a working class suburb of the capital killed at least 75 people.

Contract System or Barbarous Exploitation of Labour!

THE system of engaging contract workers has witnessed a change from bad to worse. In the early days, employers used to employ contract workers mainly in peripheral and low-skill work in their enterprises, though many of these works were of a permanent and continual nature, while operational jobs were generally manned by regular workers.

Brutal Murder of Dalit Youth: Continuum of Caste-Ridden Malice

NITIN Aage, a dalit youth studying in Class X of Kharda village in Jamkhed tehsil of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra, was brutally murdered in broad daylight on April 28. (See People’s Democracy, May 05-11 issue.) His crime (really!?) was that he had fallen in love with a girl of a so-called high caste. He was mercilessly beaten up, his hands and legs were broken with a hammer, and then he was strangulated to death. After this heinous act, moreover, the culprits hung the dead body from a tree and tried to give the impression that Nitin had committed suicide.

BJP, Modi and the Idea of India

AS the Lok Sabha election campaign has drawn to a close, it is time to reflect on the implications of the aggressive campaigning by various parties, and especially by the corporate media and big business backed BJP, for the society and polity of the country.

Stock Market Boom Amidst Economic Crisis

NEWSPAPERS on Tuesday May 13 carried three reports. The first was that the Sensex had closed at an all time high of 23551 the previous day; it had also recorded a historic intra-day high of 23572.88. The other stock market indices had also shown similar remarkable buoyancy the previous day, carrying forward a rally that had begun a few days earlier.

West Bengal Verdict “Distorted”

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat termed the results of the Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal as “distorted”. Addressing the press in New Delhi on May 16, he said that there was widespread rigging and violence during the last three phases of the elections in the state and the entire democratic process was vitiated. “The results do not reflect the strength and support of the people for the Left Front in West Bengal”. He said that the Left Front has won from the seats where the polls were held in a more or less free and fair manner in the first two phases.

On the 16th General Election Results

A DETAILED analysis of the 16th general elections will have to necessarily wait for the final figures that will be released by the Election Commission shortly and after all major political parties conclude their internal assessments and analysis. The CPI(M)’s Polit Bureau is meeting on May 18 for a preliminary review and its Central Committee will meet on June 7 and 8 by when the respective state committees would have conducted their preliminary reviews. However, it is clear by the time this column is filed that the BJP is marching towards scoring a single party majority in the Lok Sabha.

On the Lok Sabha Verdict

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on May 16, 2014

THE verdict of the people in the 16th Lok Sabha election has been clear and decisive. There has been an anti-Congress wave which has routed the Congress and the UPA. The BJP has gained from this anti-Congress wave resulting in a big victory for the BJP and the NDA. There was an unprecedented use of money power in these elections.

Left Parties Protest against Terror & Rigging

HUNDREDS of people turned up for a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on May 14, in response to the call given by the Left parties to register their protest against the widespread violence, terror and rigging in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal.

CITU Denounces SBI’s Backdoor Privatisation

IT has been reported that the State Bank of India (SBI) has signed up with the Reliance Money Infrastructure (RMIL), an Anil Arnbani group company, a 'business correspondent' deal to source a range of banking services. The deal authorises the RMIL to identify borrowers; collect, process, and submit loan applications; promote credit groups; and take up post-sanction monitoring, follow-up and recovery. As the service provider, the RMIL will also collect small-value deposits; sell micro-insurance, mutual fund and pension products; and receive and deliver small-value remittances.

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