THE inhuman and cruel sanctions of the US on Cuba must end, and with the support of the people, Cuba will fight against American imperialism, said revolutionary hero Ernesto Che Guevara’s daughter Aleida Guevara at the Cuba Solidarity meeting held in Hyderabad on January 22.She asserted that to achieve this goal, solidarity from countries all over the globe is vital.The auditorium was jam-packed with supporters and the general public who even sat outside the auditorium to listen to her speech.

THE Tamilnadu Platform for People's Unity has been observing every year Mahatma Gandhi's memorial day on January 30 as anti-bigotry day, and conducting various programmes in the state exposing the dangerous activities of the BJP and Sangh Parivar forces that are trying to divide the people on communal lines for its political gains.  In the last two years, there was no such programme because of the pandemic situation.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on February 1THE Union Budget 2023-24 comes at a time when the Indian economy slowed down before the pandemic struck, worsened during the two pandemic years and the post pandemic recovery is adversely impacted by the global economic slowdown moving towards a possible recession. Under these circumstances this budget should have addressed the central issues of increasing people’s purchasing power with job generation and boosting the growth of domestic demand.This budget fails to meet this situation.

THE union budget presented by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is nothing but a political jumla. It does not utter a word on the grim economic situation facing the country, though the Economic Survey sought to camouflage it by presenting a rosy picture.The Economic Survey itself predicted a decline in GDP to 6.5 per cent in 2022-23. Such downward spiral in growth for four consecutive years is unprecedented in the history of independent India. There is de-growth in the manufacturing sector, which came down to 1.6 per cent against 9.9 per cent last fiscal.

THE most outstanding feature of the Indian economy today is the sluggish increase in real consumption expenditure. Between 2019-20 and 2022-23 for instance the per capita real consumption expenditure has grown by less than 5 per cent which is less than the rate of growth of the gross domestic product. Even the meagre recovery from the depths of the pandemic in short has been investment-led rather than consumption-led.