Protesting against the ruination of the Indian economy and the livelihood conditions of the vast majority of our people due to demonetisation, the Left parties observed a `Protest Day’ across the country against the economic policies pursued by the BJP governments at the centre and the states, on November 8. Above is the photo of the protest held in New Delhi.
IT is exactly a year ago that Narendra Modi had announced the decision to demonetise, at four hours’ notice, as much as 86 per cent of the total currency of the country. After one year it is clear that none of the objectives that demonetisation was supposed to achieve has been achieved. This should not come as a surprise; indeed so obviously inapposite the measure had been for achieving its stated objectives that most economists, cutting across the ideological spectrum, had predicted its futility.
FOR quite some time, corruption and black money has been agitating the public mind in this country. This was particularly more so, in the urban landscape. This was elevated to an unprecedented height in the run-up to the last general elections in 2014. The background music was provided by the anti-corruption campaign under the banner of India against corruption led by the `Gandhian icon’ Anna Hazare.
At the invitation of the Indian Social Club (Kerala wing), Subhashini Ali, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member delivered the Sree Narayan Guru Memorial lecture in Muscat on October 27.
KERALA Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was accorded a hero’s welcome in Madurai in Tamil Nadu. His visit to Tamil Nadu came days after the LDF government decided to appoint people from the Scheduled Castes and other socially-backward communities as priests in government-managed temples, realisation of a dream of social reformer Periyar E V Ramasamy.
THE revelations contained in the Paradise Papers based on investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has thrown further light on how an intricate network of tax havens, opaque companies and financial dealings have developed to service the needs of multinational corporations and international finance capital.The Paradise Papers are based on leaked financial records from two companies – Appleby in Bermuda and Asiaciti in Singapore and scrutiny of company registers of 19 tax havens around the world comprising 13.4 million documents.
The Second National Convention of the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch was held in Madurai, Tamil Nadu from November 4-6. The conference venue was named as Rohith Vemula Hall. From 21 states, 452 delegates including 55 women attended the convention.The convention began with an inaugural session on November 4 in the evening at 4.00 pm. The Venmani Jyoti (torchlight) against the Venmani killings was received by A Lazar and P Suganthi and the torchv against Honour Killings was received by S Bala and P Uchimahali.
Below we publish the statement issued by the Central Trade Unions at a press conference held at Press Club on November 8 which was addressed by Ashok Singh (INTUC), Amarjeet Kaur (AITUC), Harbhajan Singh Siddu(HMS), Tapan Sen, MP (CITU) R K Sharma (AIUTUC), Rajeev Dimri (AICCTU), Ashok Ghosh (UTUC), Devarajan (TUCC) and M Pechimuthu (LPF).
Below we reproduce excerpts from the lecture delivered by Brinda Karat at an international conference on the Centenary of October Revolution organised by the Centenary Committee in London on November 4.AT a time when the world is facing the challenge of an offensive of imperialism, of right wing forces, of xenophobia, of racism, of bigotry, of increased violence against women and marginalised social groups, the need for an alternative vision of human development cannot be over emphasised.
AS the French saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and this certainly applies to the challenges that India faces in the climate negotiations currently under way at Bonn. It is clear that the broad trend in the negotiations is in the direction of sharply increasing the burden of climate action on developing countries, while there is a deafening silence from the ranks of the developed nations on the implications of the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.