Peoples Democracy newsletter

Peoples Democracy newsletter

CITU Denounces Govt moves for Strategic Sale of PSUs

The following is the statement issued by the Centre for Indian Trade Unions on February 5: AS per a report in one of the leading national English dailies, The Hindu dated February 5, 2016, the government of India is planning to go in for strategic sale of some of India's most efficient and highly profitable public sector undertakings (PSUs). It is also planning aggressive disinvestment of shares in other PSUs. This obviously is meant to hand over our country’s basic economic strength at cheap rates when the stock market is depressed, thus benefiting the global players.

TRAI Bars Facebook's Data Colonialism

ON Monday, February 8, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued its regulations barring differential pricing of data based on content. This has been welcomed widely as a step forward in keeping the internet free from capture by an emerging alliances of global internet monopolies and telcos. Indeed, TRAI's decision goes beyond what Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the US had decided on net neutrality. Currently, the FCC is enmeshed in a variety of what are called zero rating cases, and hearing them on a case to case basis.

Tripura: Left Front Set for Victory in ADC Elections

AFTER registering a sweeping victory in urban local body elections in the state in December last, the Left Front in Tripura has plunged into another electoral battle. Election to the village committees under Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) will be held on February 24. The counting will take place on February 27.A total of 7,66,946 electorate will elect 4,597 representatives in 587 villages spread across 52 blocks of the state. Village Committees in TTAADC areas are equivalent to gram panchayats in non-ADC areas. The withdrawal of nomination got over February 9.

A Welcome Decision

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on February 9.THE CPI (M) welcomes the decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) disallowing service providers from offering or charging discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.  The CPI(M) has always held that net neutrality is a fundamental pillar of the internet.The consultation process was conducted amid an unprecedented publicity drive by Facebook and certain other companies to sway public opinion but they failed to do so.

Iniquitous Taxes on Petrol and Diesel

IN the month of January alone, there have been three rounds of increase in excise duties by the central government on petrol and diesel. These increases amounted to Rs 2.12 per litre of petrol and Rs 5.5 per litre of diesel. So far there have been nine hikes in excise duties since November 2014, as a result of which the total excise duty of petrol went up by Rs 11.77 and diesel by Rs 13.37 per litre respectively.

North Korea's “Hydrogen Bomb”

THE North Korean government has claimed that it has successfully tested a “hydrogen bomb” on January 5. It was the fourth underground nuclear test conducted by the North Korean government and the first since 2013. Pyongyang has been threatening for some time that it would be testing a more potent nuclear device if political and economic concessions were not forthcoming from the West. The North Korean government has been feeling increasingly threatened as the US and its allies in the region have adopted an even more militarily bellicose attitude.

Is It ‘Beti Bachao’ Or ‘Beti Hatao’, asks AIDWA

IN a statement issued on February 2, the All India Democratic Women’s Association has strongly condemned the proposal made by the women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi to make sex determination compulsory with a view to curb sex selection. As she has clearly stated herself it has been made in order to absolve doctors and the “fraternity involved in medical processes”, and shift the onus of responsibility to the pregnant woman.

Venezuela: Setback for the Government

IT was always going to be an uphill fight for the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in the parliamentary polls that were held on December 6. With oil prices hitting historical lows in recent years, the oil dependent economy of the country has not been in a healthy state. Oil accounts for 96 percent of the country's export earnings. With the price of oil sliding from $108 a barrel in June 2014 to under $30 a barrel now, Venezuela's oil income has more than halved in the last two years.

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