THE traditional obscurantism of Hindutva, in the glorification of mythology as science, has had serious consequences for education in this country.  Hindutva's majoritarian communalism relies in a fundamental way on obscurantism, particularly in the realm of history, and has been the source of immense suffering to the nation's minorities ever since it emerged on the political scene in its current form. But with demonetisation, a new dimension of Hindutva obscurantism has opened up before us.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on December 11.THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the action of the Madhya Pradesh police and administration in preventing the chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, from attending a felicitation function in Bhopal.Pinarayi Vijayan had been invited to a reception hosted by various Malayali organisations in Bhopal on December 10.

THE rejection of the historic peace accord signed between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a referendum by a wafer thin majority had come as a shock to most Colombians and the international community. A referendum, which was not constitutionally mandated, was held just a few days after the two sides signed the permanent cease fire agreement with much fanfare in Havana on September 26. Opinion polls had shown overwhelming support for the agreement to end the war that has been going on for more than 50 years.

WITH the passage of the constitutional amendment, it was taken for granted that there would be no further hurdles to the smooth introduction of Goods and Service Tax (GST) from the beginning of the next financial year.  The Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) bills were to be introduced as money bills and passed in Lok Sabha during the winter session of the parliament.  Thereafter the states are to pass the State GST (SGST) bills in their respective legislatures during their budget sessions.  And that would have cleared the deck for GST in the country from April 1.  However, the pa

THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on December 10 has condemned the decision of the Narendra Modi led BJP government to scrap the import duty on wheat. The import duty which was 25 percent till September 2016 was reduced to 10 percent. This was, on December 8, totally done away with. The move is aimed to allow corporate companies and big traders of wheat to profiteer at the expense of farmers and is according to the diktats of the WTO and countries like the USA. AIKS demands immediate withdrawal of this move.