THE alarming fact of India’s labour market in the second decade of the millennium is the increase in youth unemployment compared to the general increase in unemployment in the recent period. Despite the fact that the overall high open unemployment rate of roughly 5.8 per cent in the recent past in India is still much lower than the unemployment rate in advanced countries, that does not indicate a better picture.

CONDEMNING the centre’s lethargy in implementing the prime minister’s assurances given to the farmer organisations led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) even after a year, it called upon its units across the country to take out rallies in states on November 26 -- the day the historic peasant movement was started on the outskirts of Delhi two years ago -- and present memorandum on their various demands to governors for forwarding it to the president.Accordingly, the SKM Tamil Nadu organised a massive rally on November 26 in Chennai to present a memorandum to the governor of Tamil Nadu and t

THE post-second world war period had seen a spate of welfare state measures in the advanced capitalist countries, especially in Europe, in emulation of what the Soviet Union was effecting. Capitalism had to accept these measures, notwithstanding its hostility to them, because it was in the midst of an existential crisis, weakened by the war, shaken by the upsurge in working-class anger, and terrified by the spread of socialism in Eastern Europe. With the subsequent consolidation of its position, however, its hostility to welfare state measures manifested itself openly.

BRITAIN’S working classes hit back against the mismanagement of the economy.  Moving into this winter, the United Kingdom has been hit by a wave of strikes, involving action by more than a million workers in the public sector led by the major trade unions. Strikes have halted train services, trash collection and port shipments around the country. The country is witnessing the biggest walkouts of the year. The unions are moving closer to coordinated action.

THE 22nd Assembly of the World Peace Council (WPC) was held in Hanoi, Vietnam from November 22-24, 2022. One hundred and eight  delegates, representing 58 organisations from 53 countries participated in this Assembly. The Vietnam Peace Committee (VPC) hosted this event for the first time in Vietnam.  Three representatives from the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO), one of the founder organisations of the WPC, participated in the Assembly.The WPC Assembly was preceded by a meeting of the Executive Committee of the WPC on November 21.