A CAPITALIST economy is characterized by continuous process and product innovations, which means that the basket of goods consumed by the people keeps changing over time. New goods are typically introduced by capitalist producers keeping mainly middle class consumers in mind, and once new goods start replacing the old goods, the production capacity in the old-goods-producing sectors declines and the entire population goes over willy-nilly to buying the new goods.

The colonial aggression of abducting Nicholas Maduro, the head of a foreign sovereign country is celebrated by the US president as an efficient military operation conducted to restore democracy and freedom in Venezuela. Maduro has to be portrayed as the head of a drug cartel so that US intervention can be justified as a matter of national security although Venezuela has a nominal share in cocaine trade and hardly produces fentanyl.

The Janashiksha Movement (literacy movement) was launched 80 years back among the hilly people of Tripura by some educated tribal youths to emancipate them from the darkness of illiteracy and social superstitions. It still remains relevant today when the ruling forces are committed to reducing education to a commodity that may be purchased only by those who can afford to.

FOLLOWING the President’s assent to the VB-GRAM (G) Bill, 2025, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan published an opinion piece in The Hindu on December 24, claiming that the new law addresses the “structural gaps” in MGNREGA and that the widespread genuine concerns raised by workers, activists, economists, and academics, both in India and globally, are merely the result of a “misreading” of the Act.

Chandrasekhar Bose, who passed away on 16^TH January at the age of 104, was a doyen of the insurance employees’ movement, founding member of the All India Insurance Employees’ Association (AIIEA), and a beloved leader of generations of insurance employees. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living member of the CPI(M).