IN a victory for the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), the Supreme Court has disallowed Reliance Power-owned Sasan Power Limited from recovering Rs 1,050 crore from several state-owned andprivate distribution companies.A bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton F Nariman on December 8 set aside the order of the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity (APTEL) asking the discoms to pay the dues to Sasan Power Limited for supply of electricity from its plant in Madhya Pradesh. Sasan Power had argued that discoms that procured electricity must pay from 31 March, 2013, when the

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