Demonetisation and Banks’ Lending Rates

SPOKESMEN of the ruling party are busy these days spreading another falsehood, namely that, because of demonetisation which has brought in huge amounts of cash to their coffers, banks would be so keen to lend that their lending rates are going to fall, and that such a fall will act as a stimulus for the economy.This is completely wrong, and banks’ lending rates can never fall for this reason. They may of course fall because the monetary policy announced by the Reserve Bank of India is so altered as to cause such a fall.

Nitish Govt’s Report Card: Claims & Reality

THE Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar has brought out a report card on its performance after the completion of one year in office in November. It boasts of implementation of 35 per cent reservation for women in all state government jobs, enforcement of total prohibition, beginning of work on the Kachi Dargah-Bidupur six-lane bridge on the Ganges and conducting free and fair matriculation examinations.

Farewell to Fidel Castro

LAKHS of people paid homage to their dear and great leader during the journey of convoy from Havana to Santiago which carried the mortal remains of revolutionary genius Fidel Castro. In this sea of people, comrades who are holding responsibilities for the changes and reforms of Cuba were also seen. The distance between Havana and Santiago is 800 km.

Strike in BSNL on Dec 15 to Defeat Govt’s Nefarious Plan to Fragment BSNL

THE entire employees and officers of BSNL are going on a one day strike on December 15, 2016. This struggle is against the government’s move to finish off BSNL, by fragmenting it into pieces. The ministry of communications has sent a cabinet note, for forming a subsidiary company to manage BSNL’s mobile towers. If the cabinet approves it, BSNL’s 65,000 mobile towers will be hived off to the new subsidiary tower company.

AIDWA Concerned over Increasing Honour Crimes

IN a statement issued on December 7, the All India Democratic Women’s Association has expressesed deep concern over the alarming increase in honour crimes and killings as has been reported by the minister of state for home affairs while answering a question in the Lok Sabha.

Thinking Together

The Supreme Court has decreed that all cinema halls should play the national anthem before starting of a film and people present in the hall should stand up during the playing of the anthem. Will this step help in promoting patriotism and nationalism? How does the CPI(M) view it?Harsh Kumar, Delhi THE Supreme Court has ordered that all cinema halls should play the national anthem before the beginning of a feature film. It has also decreed that all viewers in the hall are obliged to stand up to show respect to the national anthem.

Homage to Fidel Castro

THE whole of Havana and various Cubans from different parts of the country had joined in a huge memorial meeting to pay homage to Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz. The memorial meeting was held at the Plaza de la Revolucion “Jose Marti”. 23 heads of States/ governments, vice presidents from six countries, 13 former presidents/prime ministers, four parliamentary delegations led by the speaker/chairperson and 16 ministerial delegations had arrived to participate in this memorial meeting. The meeting was held on November 29, barely 72 hours after Comrade Fidel Castro was cremated. Comrade Fidel

Assault on Judicial Independence

THE stand-off between the higher judiciary represented by the Supreme Court and the Modi government has escalated in the past few weeks. The Supreme Court was informed by the attorney general last month that out of the 77 names proposed by the collegium for appointment as judges in the High Courts, the government had accepted the appointment of 34 judges while 43 names were sent back to the collegium.

CPI(M) Greets PCP on its 20th Congress

Below is the text of the message of greetings given by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to the Portuguese Communist Party, PCP on its 20th Congress held from December 2-4, 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal. Prakash Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member represented the Party in the Congress as fraternal delegate.DEAR Comrades,On behalf of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), we extend warm fraternal greetings to the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP). We convey our greetings to all the delegates assembled and wish your 20th Congress all success.

Demonetisation as the Basis for a Fiscal Stimulus

A BIZARRE argument is doing the rounds these days. It states that the cash which gets disabled in the “black economy” because of the government’s demonetisation measure, would enable the government to undertake an equivalent amount of expenditure with impunity; it can therefore spend more on infrastructure and other essential areas, or simply provide cash transfers to the people.

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