FOUR things stand out about the union budget for 2014-15 presented to parliament on July 10. First, the figures it presents are palpably unreal. Second, the basic fiscal strategy it embodies consists in providing concessions to the better off segments of the population, viz., the corporate elite and the upper middle class, at the expense of the poorer strata. Third, it unfolds a roadmap for the future that involves a significant privatisation of the economy, both through a pervasive reliance on Public-Private Partnerships and also through a massive sale of public sector equity.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on July 10.
THE selection of Amit Shah as the BJP president indicates the direction of politics the party intends to pursue.
The new BJP president has been charge-sheeted and is undergoing trial on the serious charge of murder connected with false encounters when he was the home minister in Gujarat. The Election Commission had prohibited him from participating in the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh during the Lok Sabha polls for making communal speeches.
AS we go to press, the Rajya Sabha on July 9 witnessed a furor following the raising of a news item (by the CPI(M) deputy leader in the House) that appeared in the media concerning the destruction of a large number of files containing historical records by the home ministry.
TAMILNADU
DEMANDING action including removal from Lok Shabha against Tapas Pal, a Trinamool Congress MP, who spoke like a barbarian, CPI(M) in Tamil Nadu organised protests in city centres including Chennai and Madurai on July 5.
At Chennai, G Ramakrishnan, state secretary of the Party addressed the cadres who gathered in hundreds. A Soundararajan, Central Committee member, P Selva Singh, state secretariat member and Maduravoyal, CPI(M) MLA K Bhimrao, district leaders K Krishnan and A Pakkiyam and others also addressed the gathering.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on July 10.
THE debut budget of the BJP government expresses deep commitment to continue the trajectory of reforms of benefiting foreign and domestic capital by emphasising on larger FDI flows and enlarged avenues for PPP projects. Fiscal consolidation is sought to be effected through contraction of public expenditures and not by increasing revenues through taxing the rich. Thus it is a recipe for further enriching the rich and impoverishing the poor.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on July 10.
THE debut budget of the BJP government expresses deep commitment to continue the trajectory of reforms of benefiting foreign and domestic capital by emphasising on larger FDI flows and enlarged avenues for PPP projects. Fiscal consolidation is sought to be effected through contraction of public expenditures and not by increasing revenues through taxing the rich. Thus it is a recipe for further enriching the rich and impoverishing the poor.
NEARLY five thousand activists of the AIDWA, DYFI and SFI were arrested by the Tamilnadu police on June 25, for attempting to stage Rail Roko at over 28 places in the state, in protest against the fare hike. At many places including Madurai, Nagapattinam and Coimbatore the police unleashed attack on the protesters.
THIS report compiles publicly available tax records, newspaper articles, and other materials on non-profit groups in the United States affiliated with the Sangh Parivar (family of Hindu nationalist groups) from 2001-2014, documenting a segment of the projects and priorities of U.S.-based Hindu nationalism. This report discusses the strategies and activities of Hindu nationalist groups in the United States in four areas of mobilization. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.
THE Left Front has decided to extend the protest demonstrations to districts against terror and attacks on democratic rights of the people. After the successful sit-in in Kolkata on June 25-27, Left parties and mass organisations will organise sit-in and other forms of protest at local levels. This has been announced at the concluding rally of the Kolkata sit-in. Biman Basu, addressing the rally said that from now on sit-in and demonstrations would be organised in front of police stations wherever attacks on Left supporters would be perpetrated.
LEADER of the CPI(M) group in Rajya Sabha, Sitaram Yechury has written to the Speaker of Lok Sabha regarding the outrageous remarks made by Trinamool Congress MP, Tapas Paul on July 3. The letter noted that Tapas Pal, MP in the 16th Lok Sabha from Trinamool Congress had made a highly objectionable statement publicly in a gathering at his constituency Krishnanagar "If anyone from the Opposition dares to touch any women then I will send my boys and get women of CPI(M) raped." He also says that he roams around with 'maal' (revolver) and will not hesitate to use it on his opponents.