Fetishising the Growth Rate of GDP

JOHN Stuart Mill was among the foremost liberal thinkers of modern times who wrote extensively on economics and philosophy. Though under the influence of his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, he came closer towards socialism late in his life, it was a kind of cooperative socialism that attracted him; he continues to be regarded primarily as a pre-eminent liberal thinker. Economists of Mill’s time were haunted by the fear of the imminence of a stationary state, that is, a state of simple reproduction or zero growth-rate, in which there would be no further capital accumulation.

West Asia – Tensions on the Rise

IRAN had fired dozens of missiles and drones on Israel in retaliation to the attack on its embassy in Damascus, Syria. On April 1, Israel attacked Iranian embassy and killed 13 people, including two top-ranked generals of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This is in violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations and 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations that explicitly ban any sort of attack on diplomatic premises.

DSMM Observes Ambedkar Jayanti

THE Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch (DSMM) organised a meeting to observe the 133rd Ambedkar Jayanti. The meeting took place at Parliament Street in New Delhi on April 14, 2024.People from various parts of Delhi-NCR participated in the programme, which is annually organised to pay tribute to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, the chair of the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution, India’s first law minister, and a great social reformer, trade unionist, and thinker.

Maha: CPI(M) Begins Hingoli Lok Sabha Election Campaign

ON April 8, 2024, the CPI(M) began its election campaign for the Hingoli Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra with an enthusiastic convention of more than 100 of its main activists. They came from the three districts of Nanded and Hingoli in the Marathwada region, and Yavatmal in the Vidarbha region. Parts of these three districts come in this constituency. The voting date for this seat is April 26. The CPI(M) had fought this Lok Sabha seat once earlier in 2014.

Comrade Neelima Maitra

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions, in a statement issued on April 12, has expressed extreme grief at the passing away of Comrade Neelima Maitra, veteran leader of the trade union movement and a frontline organiser of the working women and scheme workers’ movement, the anganwadi sector, in particular. She was 92 years old and breathed her last after prolonged ailment on April 12, 2024 at a nursing home in Kolkata.Comrade Neelima Maitra’s political-organisational life spread over more than six decades.

Relocation of Production: Possibilities and Opportunities

THE recent decade has attracted concerns about two potential trends of relocation of production and labour. One relates to increasing wages in the developing countries triggering a new wave of use of robots in production and the other is more geopolitical in nature referring to possibilities of relocating manufacturing activities outside China.Large reserve of cheap labour in the global south led to relocation of production in the developing countries and might have postponed large scale robotisation of production in advanced economies.

BJP Election Manifesto 2024 Fails to Address Key Farmer Issues: AIKS

IN a statement issued on April 17, the All India Kisan Sabha, said that the BJP's 2024 election manifesto, titled 'Modi ki Guarantee,' neglects crucial issues such as the implementation of MSP at C2+50 per cent as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission, guaranteed procurement, farmer suicides, and loan waivers. This manifesto is a clear admission of failure of implementing BJP’s last two manifestos in 2014 and 2019.

Maha: AIKS Organises Right to MSP Convention at Wardha

ON April 7, 2024, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) Maharashtra unit organised a large and enthusiastic Right to Minimum Support Price (MSP) Vidarbha level convention at Wardha. It was attended by over 800 farmers from Wardha, Yavatmal, Amravati, Buldana, Nagpur, and Gadchiroli districts of the Vidarbha region. Exactly a month ago, on March 7, 2024, the AIKS Maharashtra unit had organised a similar 1000-strong Marathwada level farmers convention at Majalgaon in Beed district.

A Striking Contrast

THE Reichstag Fire was a crucial event in the conversion of Germany from a liberal democracy into a fascist dictatorship in 1933.

Defeat BJP to stop Loot & Plunder by Corporates!

THE policies and measures adopted by the Modi led BJP government are focussed on facilitating loot and plunder of the nation and intensified exploitation of the workers by the big corporates, domestic and foreign, camouflaged under slogans like ‘Make in India’ and Atmanirbhar Bharat. While the government also claims that these are meant for job creation, the reality is otherwise.

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