Petroleum Contract Workers Marching towards First National Strike

FOR the first time in the history of India, contract workers in the petroleum sector are gearing up for a national strike. They gathered at a national convention on April 6, 2023 in New Delhi, where contract workers from across the country resolved to organise a series of protest movements and culminate in a one-day national strike later this year.

Withdraw IT Rules Amendment

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on April 7THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly disapproves of the amendments to the IT Rules 2021 giving powers to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to fact check any “fake, or false, or misleading” information about central government and ask the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google to take them down.

OPEC+ and Capitalism’s Fight against Inflation

Except in war-time, capitalism invariably seeks to control inflation by creating a recession; and this is so even when the inflation has been caused by an autonomous increase in capitalists’ profit-margins which are downward inflexible and hence would not be reduced by a recession. This strategy is pursued because a recession invariably lowers the demand for primary commodities and hence their prices; this serves to lower inflation.

NEP 2020: Echoing the Colonial Legacy

IN discussions about the laws and policies passed and implemented by the Modi government in recent years, one crucial similarity is often overlooked. Many of the policies, such as the farmers' law, labour laws, environmental laws, and forest act, have been modelled after those of the colonial era. This point was repeatedly emphasised during the farmers' protests, which became one of the most radical and determined movements in independent India's history and lasted for a whole year at the borders of the capital.

Kerala Becomes First State to Complete Social Audit of MGNREGA Works

The Social Audit Unit held 15,942-gram sabhas in every single ward of rural LSGs to audit projects worth Rs 4,000 crore completed through MGNREGA.

KERALA has become the first state in the country to complete a total social audit of the works carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the state. The audit was held in the wards of each rural local self government (LSG) in Kerala through gram sabha meetings.

Karnataka: Left to Project Alternative Policies

The BJP high command finally announced the first list of 189 candidates on April 11th late at night, after being subjected to hectic lobbying, threats, pressure tactics by candidates, and even senior leaders, as well as endless consultations, discussions, and postponements for several days. Eight sitting MLAs have been denied tickets, and most of them are unhappy, with some, including Minister S Angara, expressing their discontent openly.

Freak Weather, Heat Waves and Coming Monsoons: Climate Change

SUMMER has well and truly set in all over India. Monthly average temperatures in February have been the hottest since 1901. Temperatures were unusually high in western India in parts of Maharashtra and Konkan, and areas in Rajasthan recording as much as 7 C (degrees Celsius) higher than normal.

Press Information Bureau ‘Yes’ Police Information Bureau ‘No’

THE Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), in a statement issued on April 8, has strongly opposed the amendments made to the IT Rules 2021. The amendments in fact change the very nature and mandate of the Press Information Bureau, giving them virtual policing powers.

'Discrimination, Pressure' Force Marginalised Students to Quit IITs

More than 19,000 OBC, SC and ST students have dropped out of IITs, IIMs and Central Universities in the past five years.

MORE than 19,000 students from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) have dropped out of central universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the past five years.

Centenary of Vaikom Satyagraha

THE observance of the centenary of Vaikom Satyagraha, one of the landmark social protest movements in Kerala, began on March 30. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin kick-started the centenary observance on April 1. Several other organisations also marked the occasion. They included the Indian National Congress, SNDP and some Hindu organisations. Almost all the Malayalam dailies carried articles and comments by eminent intellectuals and activists on the Satyagraha.

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