ON July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and his compatriots stormed the Moncada garrison as part of their struggle against the then dictatorial regime in Cuba. Though that effort failed and Fidel himself was arrested and many lost their lives, this proved to be the pivotal moment in Cuba’s revolutionary history. It gave birth to the July 26 movement that spread throughout the country and contributed to the success of the subsequent armed guerrilla struggle led by Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raul Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos, and others.
QUINTESSENCE of human rights is the dignity of the human being. Universal declaration of human rights adopted by the United Nations(UN) keeps this dignity of humans in focus when it says, “ everyone has the right to work, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection of himself and his family and an existence worthy of human dignity---everyone has the right to standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing for himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care.”What is stated above is a declaration of human rights by the UN.
IN Himachal Pradesh, the apple economy is about Rs 5,000 crore. It is the backbone of the state’s economy. During the past few years due to the implementation of the neoliberal economic policies by the successive governments in the state, the horticulture sector especially the apple industry has been neglected. The subsidies on fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides were withdrawn. The research and development projects were also neglected.
CITU general secretary, Tapan Sen, lodged a complaint with the union secretary of labour and employment and the chief labour commissioner (central), against the management of Air India. He urged them to intervene and resolve the issue of Air India employees who were forced to go on compulsory leave without payment.Tapan Sen, in his complaint filed on July 19, said that the Air India Limited had unilaterally altered the service conditions of its employees and imposed provisions of forced compulsory leave without pay.
IN four years, Reliance Jio used its oil and gas revenues to finance its entry into telecom and become the leading Indian player. It bled the others with its initial low cost, predatory pricing till they surrendered, letting Jio emerge as the undisputed market leader. Jio has also made claims that its network is free from any Chinese equipment, and of an in-house, ‘indigenous’ 5G technology, positioning itself as a major player in the US-China 5G trade war.But even with its fat oil war chest, the Reliance empire had a huge overhang of loans.
THE CPI(M), on July 16, organised a state-wide satyagraha in front of government hospitals in Telangana to highlight and protest the state and central governments’ failure in containing the spread of Covid-19 in the state. Over 47,000 Covid-19 positive cases have been reported across the state and more than 400 people have succumbed to the infection so far.The protests were held in 196 centres across Telangana wherein nearly 4,700 people participated.
THE CPI(M), on July 16, organised a state-wide satyagraha in front of government hospitals in Telangana to highlight and protest the state and central governments’ failure in containing the spread of Covid-19 in the state. Over 47,000 Covid-19 positive cases have been reported across the state and more than 400 people have succumbed to the infection so far.The protests were held in 196 centres across Telangana wherein nearly 4,700 people participated.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, in a letter to union minister for environment, forests and climate change, Prakash Javadekar on July 17, has conveyed the Party’s objection to the Draft Notification for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020.Below we publish the full text of the letter.IT is clear enough that India’s environment regulation structure is not robust and needs correction. EIA is part of this structure.
THE finance minister, in her article captioned “Bold decisions pronounced under PM Modi” in Times of India, dated July 14, 2020, has praised the former prime minister, Narsimha Rao for his immense political will for dismantling the four decade old command and control model. Nirmala Sitharaman, in this article, has glorified several policy decisions of the governments headed by A B Vajpayee and Narendra Modi. Truly these policy decisions were responsible to take the country's economy towards pro-corporate and were against the interest of the common man.
THE political drama in Rajasthan, consequent to the revolt of Sachin Pilot who was the deputy chief minister and PCC president, is still unfolding. But the essential contours have become clear. The inner tussle in the Congress cannot be separated from the BJP’s drive to destabilise non-BJP state governments, in particular Congress ones. Since the Modi government came back to power in May 2019, first the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka was toppled in July 2019 followed by the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh in March this year.The BJP has been using hybrid tactics for destabili