AT first sight it appears to be an enigma. India has been recording, according to official statistics, one of the highest GDP growth rates among all the countries of the world, so much so that epithets like “emerging economic superpower” and “a global powerhouse of growth”, have been freely used to describe India’s achievement. Bourgeois commentators display much pride over the fact that India is in the process of surpassing even China in terms of its growth-rate. The IMF is now talking of India leading the world in 2019 in GDP growth.

INDIA became a republic on January 26, 1950, when the constitution, steered by Babasaheb Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly, came into effect. It is the constitution that guarantees that all sections of people – irrespective of race, religion or caste – have full rights to the nation, including the right to a decent standard of living. It is this vision of democracy and a secular republic that is under threat today.This week is also important as January 23 is celebrated as the birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

HIGHER education in our country has witnessed a continuous and unprecedented assault in the last decade, since the UPA-2 regime. The same received a vicious momentum since the Modi government took over in May 2014 as evident in the relentless attack on the academic and the financial autonomy of the university system. University of Delhi is no exception to these attacks in the last decade owing to the continuity of policies by the governments led by both Congress and BJP.

The Dark Days of Starvation Deaths Return JAPANDA Tripura (65) has seen it more than twice in his life. The last time when it struck hundreds of his alikes had come out in search of food. That was during the Congress-TUJS coalition government.  Hundreds of them from Thalchharra, Rajdhar, Malidhar, Natinmanu or his own village Gobindabarri either died because of starvation or fled the village. Japanda Tripura of Naisaram Parra of Gobindabarri village was ill. He had fever for the last few days. On top of that, there was not a single grain of rice in the house.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury visited Jharkhand on January 12,  2019 and met RJD Leader Lalu Prasad Yadav at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi. After meeting him, Sitaram addressed a press conference at the state Party office in Ranchi. Yechury told the media that the CPI(M) would try to consolidate anti-BJP votes to establish an alternative secular government both at the centre and in Jharkhand.He welcomed the BSP-SP tie up in Uttar Pradesh and said, it would consolidate the opposition votes against the BJP.