IT is 75 years of Nakba. Nakba in Arabic means catastrophe. The ‘catastrophe’ is used to describe the forceful eviction of nearly 7,50,000 Palestinians (from a population of 1.9 million) from their homeland, after the formation of Israel. Every year since 1948, May 15 is commemorated as the day of Nakba.The State of Israel was formed on November 29, 1947, through UN Resolution 181(II) adopted in the UN General Assembly that recommended the plan to partition Palestine into an Arab State, a Jewish State and the City of Jerusalem.
IN the light of the recent Supreme Court ruling, fresh elections to the state assembly is the only solution to the current political imbroglio in the state. Therefore the Maharashtra state committee of the CPI(M) has demanded dissolution of the assembly and holding immediate elections.The BJP led Shinde-Fadnavis government in the state has neither moral basis nor legal right to continue in office. This long held view of the CPI(M) has been vindicated by the Supreme Court ruling.
IN a decisive and unambiguous mandate, the people of Karnataka have rejected the BJP in the Assembly elections held on May 10. The election results, announced on May 13, signify the removal of the BJP from State power, thereby ending its only foothold in the entire South India.
During the 1980s and 90s, under the red flag of CPI(M) and Kisan Sabha, poor peasants fought a fierce class struggle to reclaim their lands from feudal lords and exploitative moneylenders in the Panch Pargana of Ranchi district. These struggles marked a historic chapter as the peasants eventually emerged victorious, but 65 peasant activists lost their lives during these battles.
INAUGURATING the 47th state conference of the Kerala State General Insurance Employees Union (KSGIEU), held in Ernakulam recently, G Anand, Vice-President, AIIEA highlighted the massive disruptions faced by the public sector general insurance companies due to the policies of the government and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
THE government last week released, after cabinet approval, its much awaited Indian Space Policy after having earlier put out a draft inviting comments. This is the latest in a long series of similar attempts which predictably failed due to faulty assumptions about national priorities in the space sector, about interests and capabilities of the private sector in India, about interests and motivations of foreign entities to invest in the Indian space sector. The current ISP 2023 suffers from a repetition of all these weaknesses and a failure to learn from past mistakes.
THE Petroleum & Gas Workers Federation of India is taken aback to learn that through a notification dated May 3, 2023, the Government of India has assigned 1.16 per cent of its contribution towards EPS' 95 to the employers' account, without it being in addition to their contribution to the PF kitty. This decision will ultimately result in a loss for the employees.
THE Quad, consisting of four countries, the United States, Japan, Australia and India is gradually taking the shape of a security alliance which was the intent of the original name of the grouping – the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.The security angle was highlighted by the recent meeting of the military chiefs of the four Quad members held in Sunnylands in California on May 15-17, the Indian Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan attended the meeting.
THE recovery of the economy immediately after the pandemic was reflected through positive and increasing growth in various sectors as businesses were back to normalcy. Much of these growth rates have been reflective of the pent up demand accumulated due to lock down and related disruptions. India records a relatively high growth rate compared to other countries and is estimated to be the second largest contributor of regional growth after China.
A MEETING in memory of late Comrades Madan Ghosh and Mridul De, both former members of CPI(M) Central Committee and state secretariat, was held at Pramod Dasgupta Bhavan in Kolkata on May 10.At the beginning of the meeting floral tributes were paid to the portraits of Comrades Madan Ghosh and Mridul De by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, senior leader of CPI(M) Biman Basu, state secretary of the Party Mohammad Salim, Polit Bureau members Surya Mishra and Ramchandra Dom, Soma Ghosh, wife of Comrade Madan Ghosh, Swapna De, wife of Comrade Mridul De, CPI state secretary Swapan Bane