‘TOILET vigilantism’, being practised in different parts of the country, has made the already vulnerable social divide starker. The government under the Swachh Bharat Mission has set a goal of constructing toilets to make the country open defecation free (ODF). Recently, a Hindi film too dealt with the importance of construction of toilets in villages. There is nothing wrong in it and in fact there is a dire need to have toilets in all households. But the desperation shown and the draconian method of ‘toilet vigilantism’ has even widened the social gap in the countryside.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau met in New Delhi on September 6-7. It has issued the following statement on September 7.DISMAL ECONOMIC SCENEAll the latest data coming in show that the economic slowdown has accelerated after demonetisation and the threat of recession is looming ahead. The estimated GDP growth in the quarter of the current financial year i.e., April to June is 5.7 per cent. The GDP growth rate has fallen four quarters in a row. The index of industrial production for this quarter shows a growth rate of only 1.8 per cent.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau now in session in New Delhi issued the following statement on September 6THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) strongly condemns the cold-blooded murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh, outside her home in Bengaluru yesterday.This killing fits into a by-now familiar pattern of eliminating voices that dare to speak out against the current climate of hate and intolerance by the RSS/BJP. The killings of Govind Pansare, Dabholkar, Kalburgi and now Gauri Lankesh – are all interconnected.

NITI Aayog was constituted by the BJP government immediately after it assumed power at the centre. This brought down the curtains on the Planning Commission. The intention behind the establishment of NITI Aayog has been very clear – deepening the neoliberal reforms. It has taken upon the task of international financial institutions like the World Bank, IMF to ensure the transfer of public assets to private players, reduce the role of government in welfare activities and confine the State to cater to the ruling class interests only.

IMMEDIATELY after alighting from the train in Petrograd station on April 3, 1917 Lenin addressed the thousands of workers who had gathered there to welcome him. He concluded his address with the rousing slogan, “Long Live the Socialist Revolution” and plunged into action from that instant.The immediate task undertaken by Lenin was to lay out a theoretical and practical map for the advancement of the revolution. It is in this background that he had written his famous ‘April Theses’.