This Independence Day, Remember the Children of Gorakhpur

SEVENTY years of independence, in normal circumstances, should call for celebrations across the nation. Unfortunately these are not normal times. For once we hoped that even this government, hard wired to proclaim its nonexistent ‘achievements’ in strident tones accompanied by incessant jingoist chest thumping, would have considered shedding a few tears for the children of Gorakhpur who did not live to see their country celebrate its 70th year after independence.

February 1917, A Prelude to October 1917

FEBRUARY Revolution 1917 is one of the three most important milestones in the history of the successful Great October Socialist Revolution 1917. The first significant marker is the 1905 Revolution, which is usually called as the dress rehearsal for the socialist revolution. The second is the February Revolution in 1917, with the final one being the successful October Revolution.

Kerala Won't Surrender before Politics of Hate

WHAT would be the state of your mind, if you witnessed your father being stabbed to death in front of you amidst his desperate attempt to save you from a gang of murderers? This question always comes to my mind whenever I think about a close friend of mine, Siva Prasad. This is what happened to Siva Prasad around three years ago. Siva Prasad, a native of Trivandrum and a member of SFI Kerala state committee, had never been involved in any criminal activity or nowhere a complaint was filed against him for disturbing the peaceful life of any person.

INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH OF TRIPURA CM, MANIK SARKAR: ‘Let us Pledge to Reverse the Destructive Policies’

The Independence Day Speech of Tripura Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar was recorded by the Doordarshan and All India Radio but subsequently they had blacked out his speech. The full-text of his speech is published below. DEAR People of Tripura,On the occasion of Independence Day, I convey my greetings and best wishes to you all. I pay my homage to the great memory of the martyrs of India’s freedom struggle.

Human Chains in West Bengal

HUMAN chains were organised throughout West Bengal on August 15 with the call of defending secular democracy. In Kolkata, and most of the districts, human chain was observed for 10 minutes from 11am. An oath was read in thousand voices.In Kolkata, a five km long chain was organised in central part of the city- from Subodh Mullick square to Park Circus. Thousands of people, along with Left leaders participated in this chain.

Criminal Negligence of UP Govt Kills More Than 65 Children

IN the entire region of the terai in and around Gorakhpur, in the adjoining districts of Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajgunj, Gonda, Basti, every water body, small and large, is surrounded with small brick structures made during the Chhat puja when devout fasting men and women stand all night in the water, pray to the rising sun for the longevity of their children. This occurs at the end of the monsoon, after Japanese encephalitis has taken yet another toll of infant life in the area. The small brick structures seem to be memorial shrines to the dead infants. The faith of the devout in the S

Economy Plunging Headlong into Recession

VOLUME II of the Economic Survey which was brought out by the ministry of finance a few days ago paints an extremely grim picture of the Indian economy. The growth rate of real Gross Value Added (GVA which is the appropriate thing to look at, since the GDP measure includes net indirect taxes and hence does not truly reflect output trends), was 6.6 per cent for 2016-17 as a whole, compared to 7.9 per cent for 2015-16.

Conference of Kerala State Construction Workers Federation Held

THE 10th conference of the Kerala State Construction Workers Federation (KSCWF) was held on August 6-7 at EMS Memorial Hall in Cochin.KSCWF president K P Sahadevan hoisted the red flag of the CITU. Leaders and delegates paid floral tribute at the martyrs’ column.CITU’s Kerala state president Ananthalavattom Anandan inaugurated the conference. In his speech, he referred to the increasing unemployment in the country. Now robots are taking over the job of workers. Robots need no rest, they do not need food, they will not be unionised.

Agricultural Workers March in Thousands against Modi Govt’s Policies

BRAVING incessant rain, several thousand agricultural workers marched from the Ramleela Ground to Parliament Street in New Delhi on August 9, against the Modi government’s policies affecting agricultural labourers and the rural poor.Agricultural workers from Kerala, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tripura, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and some other states participated in the march in large numbers.

Independence Day Speech: Hypocritical Propaganda

THE Independence Day speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a piece of propaganda remarkable for its disconnect with reality and reeked of hypocrisy in certain matters.This stood out most with regard to Kashmir. His exhortation that the problem will not be solved by “gaali” and “goli” but by embracing Kashmiris was the most hypocritical of them all. The Kashmir valley has been in turmoil and the use of force is the only distinctive approach of the centre to deal with the unrest among the people.

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