THE All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has condemned the killings of anti-Sterlite protesters in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu as the most barbaric massacre in recent times. On May 22, police opened fire without any warning on a peaceful rally of thousands of people seeking closure of the polluting Sterlite copper smelting unit, killing 13 people and leaving hundreds injured.Soon after the news of the killings came, the AIKS decided to send a fact-finding committee.
ONCE again, there is some talk about talks to be held on Jammu & Kashmir. On May 26, the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in a media interview said that the government is ready to hold talks with Hurriyat, if the Hurriyat leadership is ready for such talks.
INDIA is ruled by polarisation experts. Our country is experiencing what an American anthropologist had identified as “schismogenesis” in simple words “creation of division”. The country seems to be in a perpetual state of conflict. There are slanging and shouting matches going on in TV studios and social media. And those in drawing rooms are shouting at their TV screens. Institutions, families and friends stand divided.
THE BJP party which was considered to be an urban party-having more influence in the cities was supposed to address the urban issues better than its predecessors in ruling. But, four years of the BJP rule at the centre with a clear majority of its own has completely disappointed the people living in the cities.Today more than 1/3rd of the people live in urban centres. There are over 7,935 small and big towns and 468 class 1 cities. These cities are those which hold a population of above 1, 00,000.
COMMEMORATING the death anniversary of Comrade P Sundarayya, Makineni Basavapunnaiah Trust had organised a memorial lecture on the ‘Agrarian Crisis in India: Some Reflections.’ The lecture was delivered by Venkatesh Athreya, well-known economist, on May 19, at Makineni Basavapunnaiah Vignana Kendram in Vijayawada. P Madhu, trustee of MBVK presided over the meeting.Venkatesh Athreya said the neoliberal economic policies pursued by the rulers in India are against the interests of the peasants, and as they are followed more vigorously by the present government, peasants are suffering all the
THE Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, as part of a high level dialogue it had initiated last year between November 30 and December 3, 2017 under the title, “CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting”, had decided that various thematic events would be organised subsequently. In accordance with this, the CPC organised a high level thematic event commemorating the 200th birthday of Karl Marx on May 28, 2018 at Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.In this thematic meeting, leaders of 75 Communist and Workers Parties from across the gl
LESS snow and rainfall and now dry hot weather has created a water crisis in the state of Himachal Pradesh. In 30 villages, there is an acute crisis of water. In Shimla city, it has reached a dire situation.There are two reasons for the present crisis. The first one being natural – as the impact of climate change is evident. Less snow and rains which reduced the water level at the water sources, is the principal reason for the present crisis. Secondly, the BJP government has completely failed to manage the water distribution in the state.
Almost three months after the BJP-IPFT government assumed office in Tripura, the Left Front on May 25, had organised a mass sit-in programme at Agartala to lodge its protest against the overall anti-democratic atmosphere prevailing in the state; demanding immediate halt to the fascist like terror by the ruling parties; for halting the selected demolition of the offices of the opposition parties and trade unions; for speedy measures to check the scarcity of food and work in tribal and rural areas and for ensuring rule of law in the state.Though the Left Front had asked for permission to org
THE Modi government is celebrating four years in office with great fanfare. The fact that these four years have unleashed an unparallelled process of social and political retrogression in the country is well-known and need not detain us here. Our purpose here is to examine what these years have meant for the living standards of the bulk of the Indian people.Here however one immediately comes across a hurdle.
FINALLY it happened.The Sterlite Copper Smelter factory was shutdown, after claiming 13 lives in a pre-planned cold blooded murder by the police in Thoothukudi, the southern port city of the country.The shutdown may be a drama of the AIADMK government, as the issue is lying with the High court.