PRIME Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Syriza-led government of Greece have abjectly capitulated to the diktats of the Eurozone-IMF bosses. This is a tragedy for the Greek people. The formation of the Syriza government had raised hopes that the hateful austerity measures imposed by Troika, consisting of the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, would be ended and national sovereignty defended. These hopes have been cruelly dashed in the short space of six months.
EVEN after 69 years of independence, caste and creed discrimination strongly exists in India. Successive rulers were optimistic that this social evil would be eliminated with gradual modernisation, industrialisation and urbanisation etc. But that did not happen because feudalism which has nexus with ruling classes, is very much keen to keep the people divided on caste and creed lines. This evil feature has extended its long hand to our economic sector also, said Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) at a seminar in Agartala on July 12.
zzzzzzTHE central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India has, in a press statement issued on July 6, condemned the incidents of brutal police lathicharge against the students who were protesting on different issues related to education in Jodhpur of Rajasthan and in various parts of Kerala. The statement underlined that July 6 was the third day of the ongoing hunger strike in Rajasthan demanding proper reimbursement of scholarship, linking scholarship to inflation and better infrastructure in the hostels.
ON the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch (DSMM), Delhi committee has organised a seminar on ‘Neo-liberal policies and Dalits’ on July 4. Hundreds of people from various areas of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida participated in the seminar. Professor Gopal Guru (JNU), Subhashini Ali, Polit Bureau member of CPI(M) and Dr Bajrang Bihari Tiwari (Delhi University) were the main speakers in the seminar. A three member presidium comprising Brahmjeet Singh, Sonia Verma and Vidyapati conducted the proceedings of the seminar.
THE working committee meeting of the ASHA Workers Union, Jammu region was held on July 5 under the chairmanship of Anita Devi at its office premises in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu.
A CPI(M) delegation, led by Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, met Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi on July 3 and submitted a memorandum seeking his immediate intervention to prevent any untoward incident in Sriram Colony of North-east Delhi, where RSS has been trying to foment communal tension.
The following is the press statement issued by the Delhi Union of Journalists on July 5.THE DUJ is deeply grieved and shocked at the mysterious death of young Aajtak journalist Akshay Singh while investigating the Vyapam Scam in Madhya Pradesh. His sudden death cannot be isolated from the total number of 45 deaths of witnesses, accused and others connected to this Rs 2000 crore scam.The government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan has much to answer for.
THE working committee of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions called upon the working class of India to strive to convert the September 2 country wide general strike into an unprecedented massive action of all sections of working people to give a stern warning to the BJP led Modi government that its anti-worker and anti-people policies will no longer be tolerated.
IN a letter addressed to defence minister Manohar Parrikar on July 3, 2015, CPI(M) general secretary, Sitaram Yechury has asked that the contents of the Defence Framework Agreement with the United States be made public. He said the defence minister had signed the ten-year Defence Framework Agreement with the United States government on June 3, 2015. The reports about this agreement have also appeared in the media. However, the text of the agreement has so far not been made public.