Crisis in Sri Lanka

SRI LANKA has been plunged into a political and constitutional crisis due to the arbitrary steps taken by Maithripala Sirisena in the past three weeks. The president dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and swore in his erstwhile opponent Mahinda Rajapaksa as the prime minister on October 26.It may be recalled that Sirisena, who belongs to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), had broken away from Rajapaksa. He had fought the elections and defeated Rajapaksa in January 2015 in alliance with Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP).

On the Recent Scams and the Role of Crony Capitalism

Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), addressed a press conference on the recent scams and the role of crony capitalism, on November 15, 2018 at the Party headquarters in New Delhi. The following is the text of the press release.INDIAN economy has hit the lowest point at the present point of time. Every commitment made in the run up to the last election remains unredeemed. The aggressive pursuit of neoliberal policy has forced the institutionalisation of cronyism as the dominant feature of this government.

Renaming for What?

ALONG with the revival of the issues of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, the BJP-RSS combine has opened a new front with communal intent. That is the renaming of cities and places which have a Muslim cultural lineage. The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh led by Adityanath, has gone on a name changing spree. Allahabad, one of the foremost educational and cultural centres of Uttar Pradesh has been renamed officially as Prayagraj.

CHATTISGARH: ‘Defeating BJP is the Need of the Hour’

“THE countdown of BJP has begun. It has failed to solve the problems of the common man, hence as the elections come nearer, the BJP starts chanting the temple issue. They do not even have the patience to wait for the Supreme Court decision.” This was stated by Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the CPI(M) addressing the ‘meet the press’ programme at Raipur Press Club in Chattisgarh.He said in the last four and half years of the BJP rule, the policies of neoliberalism have been aggressively pursued, which has led to severe economic attacks on the common people.

Dassault CEO: Some Clarity Peeping Out of Rafale Haze?

A RECENT interview by Dassault chairman CEO Eric Trappier (Mint, October 26, 2018) throws some light on the Rafale deal, even if inadvertently or by reading between the lines. The deal remains shrouded in mystery mainly due to the stubborn refusal of the government to share information and due to so-called clarifications by government spokespersons including the minister of defence which have only caused more confusion.

INF Treaty and the US Aggression

THE Trump administration that has been making concerted efforts to undermine the postwar liberal order is now set to jettison the Cold War nuclear order that introduced a modicum of nuclear sanity in the world. After the demise of Soviet Union in 1990s, the use of nuclear weapons as a political weapon reduced considerably. Although the nuclear proliferation bogey was extensively used against Iraq and Libya, but the politics of nuclear disarmament did not find much favour with the United States (US) strategic community.

Meanwhile in Tripura

No Public holiday on May Day From 2019, May Day will no longer be a public holiday in Tripura. The BJP- IPFT coalition government has removed the international Workers' Solidarity Day from its list of public holidays. An order to this effect has been issued on November 3. Instead, May Day has been included in the list of restricted holidays. In Tripura, May Day was made a public holiday since 1978 when the first Left Front government assumed office.

test

The Modi Government’s Spat with the RBI

THE Modi government’s spat with the Reserve Bank of India, like its sudden resurrection of the Ram temple project, indicates the desperation it feels at its dwindling electoral appeal. Having dealt a huge blow to the small-scale sector through its measures like demonetisation and the GST, having aggravated through its inaction the impact on the Indian economy of the world capitalist crisis, and of Trump’s protectionism that has followed, it is now quite desperate to salvage some support for itself as the Lok Sabha elections approach.

Proposed ‘New Deal’ for Women is a Hoax

REPLYING to Congress president, Rahul Gandhi’s letter on the women’s reservation bill, the law minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote: “….the BJP and the Congress, should come together and over a 'new deal' to Indian women to ensure equality and adequate representation. As part of this 'new deal', we should approve, in both houses of parliament, the women reservation bill, the law prohibiting Triple Talaq and imposing penal consequence on those who violate the law, and the law prohibiting Nikah Halala.

Search form

Peoples Democracy newsletter