CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on June 30THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the action of Tamilnadu governor, R N Ravi, dismissing Senthil Balaji from the state cabinet.This is a totally unconstitutional act as the governor has no right to appoint or remove ministers, except on the advice of the chief minister.Ravi has been taking a series of steps, which amounts to interference in the politics of the state and in the running of the state government.  The latest outrageous move to dismiss a minister, though kept in abeyance, ma

THE union government issued two sets of guidelines on June 19 to all state governments, asking them to implement urban reforms. In order to ensure the implementation of these reforms, a carrot of monetary incentive is dangled before them. This initiative reflects the BJP-led central government's push towards the aggressive implementation of neoliberal reforms.Before delving into the current guidelines, it is important to recap the previous directives issued by the central government during the COVID lockdown.

               FASCISTIC elements exist in every modern society, but usually as fringe, marginal or minor elements. They move centre-stage only when they get the support of monopoly capital which provides them with ample money and media coverage; and this happens when there is a capitalist crisis that substantially increases unemployment and puts a question mark on the hegemony enjoyed by monopoly capital until then.

PRIVATE military contractors (PMCs), a euphemism for corporate military entities, are back in the news. This time, it is the Wagner Group, a Russian PMC whose leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged an apparent armed rebellion against the Russian State. The Russian government had contracted the Wagner Group's services for the war in Ukraine. Prigozhin, known as "Putin's chef" and manager of his online troll army, betrayed his boss and now finds himself abandoned by the Russian State in Belarus.

SOCIAL reform movements for women’s rights have historically fought the uniformity of male privilege and each step forward has been in a specific socio-economic and political context. Admittedly in India, in the 75th year of our independence, the legal framework for women’s rights, though certainly vastly improved, is still ridden with discriminations, biases and cultural prejudice. There is little doubt that much needs to be done.