A CPI(M) delegation consisting of Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member and leader of the CPI(M) group in Rajya Sabha and Mohd Yusuf Tarigami, Central Committee member and secretary of Jammu & Kashmir state committee of the CPI(M) and member of the legislative assembly of Jammu & Kashmir met the home minister of India on October 27, 2014 and discussed the issues contained in the memorandum submitted in order to provide greater and more meaningful relief for the people suffering as victims of this unprecedented natural disaster in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
A JOINT delegation of CPI(M) and CPI leaders visited Trilok Puri in East Delhi on October 28. They met the local residents of the area affected during the recent communal violence which started on the night of Diwali. Trilokpuri is a resettlement colony in East Delhi. Tension has been brewing here for more than a month on some pretext or the other. The last has been the Jagran, right opposite a mosque a little before Dussehra. This led to tension which turned into a riot on Diwali.
ONE after another, all the election promises made by Prime Minister Modi during his whirlwind nationwide campaign, in a corporate jet, are turning out to be completely hollow – full of bluster and no substance. On earlier occasions, we had exposed the feature of this Modi government with regard to its so-called `economic miracles’, achhe din aanewale hain etc etc.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi from October 26 to 29, 2014. It has issued the following statement:
RESIST ATTACK
ON MGNREGA
The Modi government is taking steps to curtail and restrict the Rural Employment Guarantee Act. There is a proposal to restrict the implementation of the Act to 200 most backward districts in the country.
A DYFI worker has been brutally killed by RSS goons at Kumbala village in Kerala’s Kasaragod district. The incident took place around 5 pm on October 27 when 37-year-old Murali, a member of DYFI Shatipallam unit committee, was riding a motorbike, along with his friend Manjunath. The RSS goons, led by Sharat, stopped the motorcycle and stabbed him repeatedly to death. This was the second attempt on Murali’s life.Murali, a resident of Shantipallam in Kumbala, was attacked by the RSS goons near Apsara Mill area near Sithamgoli.
THE present government at the centre seems to have mastered the art of demagogy and deceit. Words are not meant to be followed by deeds. They go in different directions.
The multi-coloured advertisements in the corporate dailies on the ‘Shrameva Jayate Karyakram’ organised by the government only confirms this impression. Named after one of the proponents of the Hindutva ideology, this programme had been put up as an important effort by the new government at the centre ‘for the working people in the country’.
THE decision by President Barack Obama to order the American military back into action in West Asia following the military advances of the Islamic State (IS) forces and the beheading of three western nationals in the region, could lead to another full scale war in the region. In the third week of September, the US House of Representatives and the Senate voted to give the American president its approval for the plan to train and arm the so-called “moderate” rebel forces in Syria, without even a semblance of a debate.
THE results of the Maharashtra state assembly that were declared on October 19 have led to a hung house. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 122 seats has emerged for the first time as the single largest party and is set to form the next government. A BJP ally, the Rashtriya Samaj Party has won one seat. The Shiv Sena (SS) with 63 seats has emerged as the second largest party. The Congress (INC) with 42 seats is third and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 41 seats is fourth.
THE Modi government announces its big ticket labour market reforms. Branded as Shramev Jayate, these labour reforms have the objective of pleasing both labour and capital and removing the ‘obstacles’ to economic investment and growth. But Modi is not alone in trying to please labour and capital in one stroke. Even those politically opposed to him are arguing that labour reforms are needed and that they should be suited to address the problems of labour market rigidities which have traditionally held back economic growth.
INDIA is a land of festivals. Almost every other day there is some or the other festival, but the festivity reaches its peak as the time of the harvest of rice approaches. This is also the time when Kashmiri apples reach the national and international markets. But, this year the season of festivals has brought a long series of destruction and worries for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The devastating floods which the state saw in the first week of September are completely unprecedented for this ‘heaven on the earth’.