Bereft of Macroeconomic Vision

THOUGH finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman laboured for well over two hours when delivering her budget speech, it is likely that the aspect of the speech that will receive popular attention would be the restructuring of income tax slabs and reduction in rates that would benefit the tax paying middle class. That was obviously also the intention of the exercise.Budget 2021-22 was being presented at a critical time for the economy, with growth decelerating sharply, and evidence of adversity not just in the informal economy but in the corporate sector as well.

DUJ Blasts Prolonged Denial of Internet to Kashmir Journos

THE Delhi Union of Journalists, in a statement issued on February 19, has expressed its deep concern at the prolonged denial of high speed internet to journalists in Kashmir. DUJ regrets this attempt to stifle the press in the region. Media organisations are barely able to function in the absence of high speed internet facilities. The government’s announcements that fixed line/broadband facilities have been restored are a sham.

Paying Uncle Sam for Stealing Our Secrets

WASHINGTON Post, the German and Swiss broadcasters ZDF and SRF have revealed that German Federal intelligence Agency BND and NSA-CIA jointly owned a Swiss company called Crypto AG. Through Crypto AG, they hacked into encrypted communications of a huge number of countries.

Left Parties Protest against Ani-People Budget

DELHIHUNDREDS of people participated in the joint march of the Left Parties led by CPI(M), CPI, CPI (ML)-Liberation, AIFB, RSP and CGPI from Mandi House to Jantar Manch on February 18, where it culminated in a public meeting. Prakash Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, while addressing the public meeting pointed that the budget does not provide any way out of the slowdown plaguing the Indian economy. Modi government provided tax concessions of Rs 1.45 lakh crore to the corporates last September.

Supreme Court Lashes Out at Govt for Shielding Private Telecom Companies

ON February 14, 2020, the Supreme Court has lashed out at the government, for shielding the private telecom companies, which are dodging the payment of their licence fee dues.

Countrywide Protests planned against Trump’s visit

RAISING slogans like: “go back trump”, “hands off Indian agriculture”, “no to opening up of poultry and dairy market to US products”, the AIKS has decided to build a strong opposition to the visit of Donal Trump, president of the United States of America. The AIKS in a statement issued on February 17, has opposed the decision of the Narendra Modi led BJP government to invite US president to India on February 24 and 25, 2020 and facilitate the signing of trade agreements to open up the dairy and poultry market to US products.

AIDWA Welcomes Upholding of Women’s Rights in Army

THE All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), in a statement issued on February 19, has welcomed the judgment of the Supreme Court that all women officers in short service commission are eligible for permanent commission and command posts in all branches of the army irrespective of the number of years of service. Women in the army have been fighting for this for the last ten years when the Delhi High Court granted them permanent commission in the army.

Two Judgments Uphold Citizens’ Rights

TWO judgments delivered by two High Courts have forthrightly upheld the fundamental right of citizens to protest. The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court set aside an order by the additional district magistrate against allowing protests in Beed against the CAA. The Karnataka High Court, two days earlier, held that the prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) imposed by the Bengaluru police to prevent protests against the CAA were illegal.These are two significant judgments at a time when sections of the higher judiciary and even the Supreme Court ar

Budget 2020: How BJP Govt Destroyed Economy & Squeezed the People

IN the union budget presented before parliament on February 1, 2020, a vivid and shocking picture of how the Modi led BJP government has destroyed India’s economy emerges. It also reveals exactly how a rich man’s sarkar goes about brutally increasing the burden on people in order to continue handing out concessions to the corporate world and turning the whole country into a source of profit.DECODING THE DESTRUCTIVE SLOWDOWNDue to neglect, mismanagement and perversion of priorities, the BJP government created a slump in the Indian economy.

Capitalism, Socialism and Over-Production

THESE notes are meant to clarify a point made earlier (Peoples’ Democracy, June 30, 2018) about the erstwhile socialist economies not having over-production crises as capitalist economies do.It is in the nature of capitalism to have “over-production crises”, i.e., crises arising from “over-production” relative to demand. “Over-production” does not mean that more and more goods keep getting produced relative to demand, so that unsold stocks keep piling up.

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