Bring Down Bengal’s Era of Kleptocracy

SARADHA LOOT ON April 9, 2013, Ponzi boss Sudipta Sen, the head of chit fund organisation Saradha Group which went bust robbing lakhs of people of their life savings, fled Kolkata. A few days later at a general council meeting of her party, chief minister Mamata Banerjee reportedly said “No one will be spared. I am not on the side of any culprit.” She followed this affirmation with a burst of sarcastic questions, “Kunal chor? Madan chor? Tumpai chor? Mukul chor? Aami chor? Sabai chor? Baki ra shob sadhu! (Is Kunal a thief? Is Madan a thief? Is Tumpai a thief?

Is this the End of Justice?

THE Amrit Mahotsav celebrations of 75 years of Indian independence were indelibly marred by the shocking remission granted on that day by the government of Gujarat to 11 persons who had been convicted of multiple rape and murder committed by them during the horrific carnage of Muslims that took place in the state in 2002. When news of this remission became public, Bilkis Bano, the only survivor of the crimes, could only say ‘Is this the end of Justice’?MEMORIES HAUNT ONCE AGAINI was part of a CPI(M)-AIDWA delegation along with Brinda Karat, Kiran Moghe, Mariam Dhawale, Sub

India’s Updated but Downgraded NDC

IN his speech at last December’s COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, Prime Minister Modi surprised everyone, perhaps even his own official delegation, by making five rather striking promises to reduce emissions even more than India had pledged in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) tabled under the Paris Agreement (PA).

Controlling Inflation At the Expense of Working Class

ECONOMISTS distinguish between two kinds of inflation: “demand-pull” and “cost-push”. Demand-pull inflation is said to occur when there is excess demand in a situation where supply cannot be augmented, because full capacity output has been reached in one or more crucial sectors. War-time inflation is a classic example.

75 Years since Independence: Where India Stands in Road Accidents?

THE government celebrated ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to mark 75 years of India’s Independence in a big way. Like many other burning issues of the people, the major issue of road accidents/fatalities and the miseries of the victims and their families was also ignored or sidelined. The government has recently released the statistics and an analysis report on road accidents.India stands number one in the world in road accidents and related deaths. As many as 1,31,714 persons were killed and 3,48,279 injured due to road accidents in 2020.

Abhijit Sen

PROFESSOR Abhijit Sen, renowned economist, expert on agriculture, rural economy and planning passed away after a brief illness on August 29. We extend condolences to his family and friends.Prof. Abhijit Sen had a long academic career spanning over four decades.

Hypocrisy about Freebies

ON the last day of his tenure as chief justice on August 26, Justice Ramana referred the pleas on political parties promising freebies to a three-judge bench to be decided by the new chief justice of India. The Supreme Court, getting into the freebies issue, is an example of misplaced priorities and entering into an area which is not the business of the higher judiciary.Prime Minister Narendra Modi stoked the issue of freebies when he derided the ‘revdi’ culture and blamed the opposition for it in a public meeting in July. A public interest litigation petition was filed by a Delhi BJP lea

WB: People’s Struggle against ‘Looters Raj’

CRORES of Indian rupee notes and quasi-equivalent amounts of gold jewellery are found in the properties of former state education minister, Partha Chatterjee and his ‘khaas’ emissary Arpita Mukherjee. This year the month of July took the attention over anything in West Bengal as the ‘eyes wide shut’ of the intelligence regarding the loot of people’s assets moved to ‘do something' about it.

The Week in Parliament

IN the first week of the Monsoon session, both Houses of Parliament witnessed adjournment as the Left and other Opposition MPs demanded suspension of listed business to discuss issues such as spiralling inflation and enhanced GST rates on many essential commodities, the Agnipath scheme and growing autocracy.

Convention and Rally in Support of Struggle against Deucha Pachami Coal Mine Project

“THEY may take my life, but I will not go. I will not leave my father’s land. All that I have in the world is here,” declared Sohagini Saren. She was not alone. Many more villagers present in Suvarna Vanik Samaj Hall in Kolkata on Wednesday, August 3, expressed their determination to fight to the end to protect their land and livelihood, under threat because of the Deucha Pachami coal block project.

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