ASSAM: Karl Marx Bicentenary Meet

AA A SEMINAR on ‘Relevance of Marxism in the present situation’ was organised by CPI(M) Kamrup Mahanagar district committee to mark the bicentenary of Karl Marx on May 14 at Lakhiram Barua Sada in Guwahati.About 250 members attended the seminar where chief speaker Ashok Dhawale, Central Committee member of CPI(M) and president, AIKS, spoke at length about the life of struggles of Karl Marx, the revolutionary and scientific aspects of his philosophy.Analysing the present situation in the country, Dhawale said that Karl Marx, in his writings on India, said that caste system was the biggest hi

Bankers Union Demands Wilful Defaulting be Made Criminal Offense

THE Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), in view of recent incidents of defaulters like Nirav Modi denting banks with huge sums of money, has urged the government to implement the four demands they have been making since many years, to safeguard public sector banks of the country.In an official press release given on May 18, the Federation demanded that wilful default in repayment of bank loans be made a criminal offense and deterrent punishment must be meted out to the culprits.The BEFI also demanded that all assets of the defaulting corporates, their promoters and the in-house direc

PROTEST AGAINST POLLUTION IN TUTIKORIN: CITU Condemns Brutal And Murderous Police Firing

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions, in a statement issued on May 23, has vehemently condemned the brutal and murderous police firing on people protesting against pollution by a copper smelter plant of M/s Sterlite at Tutikorin, Tamil Nadu killing 12 persons and injuring hundreds.The people of that region have been agitating since long demanding concrete action by the government to prevent the atmospheric pollution being generated by the Sterlite’s Copper Smelter Plant, creating menacing impact on the lives and health of the people in that region.

Sterlite – A Timeline

1993 – district collector, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra directed Sterlite to suspend construction work following year-long agitation by local people.1994 – Sterlite enters Tamil Nadu. NOC given by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) carried a condition that the factory should be located 25 kms from the Gulf of Mannar.1995 – TNPCB authorizes Sterlite to commence construction though it violated the set condition and the plant was built within 14 kms of Gulf of Mannar.

TAMIL NADU: Brutal Killing of People Demanding Closure of Sterlite Industries

SINCE February 2018, the people of Thoothukudi town and its nearby villages were up in arms demanding the immediate closure of Sterlite Industries operating since 1996 in violation of all rules of environmental bodies and suggestions given by the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court.

Four Years of BJP Central Government

THE singular feature of the completion of four years of this BJP central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the near complete reneging of the promises made to people in 2014, on which basis, this government assumed office through a majority of their own in the Lok Sabha. The country was promised `achhe din’. The country was promised development and prosperity.

AFTER KARNATAKA

THE Modi government is observing its completion of four years in office under the shadow of the debacle the BJP suffered in Karnataka. This has imbued the fourth anniversary with a political significance of its own.The image of the BJP and its top leaders, Narendara Modi and Amit Shah, has been badly dented in the way they tried to form a government in Karnataka by suborning the governor and using other unscrupulous means to lure defectors from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular).

On Subversion of Democracy in the Ongoing West Bengal Panchayat Poll

THE 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of India expresses grave concern about the extreme threat faced by grassroots democracy in West Bengal. This is clearly manifest in events leading up to the panchayat elections in 2018, where the entire election process has now been rendered uncertain. It may be recalled that during Left Front rule, panchayati raj institutions in the state were celebrated in India and abroad as shining examples of democratic decentralisation. Panchayat elections were held under TMC rule for the first time in 2013.

Walmart’s Acquisition of Flipkart and What it Means for India

WALMART’S 14 billion dollar acquisition of Flipkart has sent the Indian financial press into a tizzy: the biggest deal in India ever, the biggest ever global ecommerce acquisition, etc. What it means for the Indian retailers, who employ about 40 million people, having Amazon and Walmart, two of the most brutal employers in the world dominating the Indian market, does not find place in these writings. Or that the BJP government has been in clear violation of its election promise of not permitting foreign capital to enter multi-brand retail.

The So-called “Consumers’ Interest”

IN the wake of the take-over of Flipkart by Walmart, one is once again hearing an argument which one has often come across before, namely that having a large multinational in this sphere, which can do global sourcing for its products, will make goods cheaper for buyers and therefore be in the “consumers’ interests”.

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