FDI: Ruinous Policies

THE Modi government has announced another set of sweeping liberalised norms for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in various sectors. In the last two years of the Modi government, there has been successive liberalisation of FDI norms across the board. The current relaxations include 100 per cent FDI in the defence sector, retail food trade, civil aviation, cable networks, DTH and other telecom services. Apart from this, 74 percent FDI through the automatic route will be allowed to facilitate takeover of existing Indian pharmaceutical companies.

Globalise the Struggle; Globalise Hope! Workers Paint France In Red: Demand Reversal of “Bosses Law”

THE protests across France against the bill proposing changes in the labour laws have been described as the biggest and longest protests since the French Revolution. What we saw indicate that it could well be an understatement. Over 1.2 million marched the streets of Paris on June 14, 2016 which happens to be the birth anniversary of the eternal revolutionary Che Guevara. Across France yet another 1.5 million workers are reported to have protested on the same day making it the biggest protest with never-seen-before kind of mass participation.

The Goods and Services Tax

FOR pushing through the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the NDA government is resorting to an enormous amount of untruth. The most blatant of these is the utterly bogus claim that the GST would increase India’s GDP growth rate by 2 percent per year. If the GST had such a miraculous effect, then the world capitalist crisis would have vanished long ago, since the US, which does not have a GST, would simply have moved to a GST regime, adding to its GDP growth rate and that of the world economy as a whole.

Yechury writes to External Affairs Minister Over an OFBJP, Malaysia Poster

SITARAM Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary and a member of the consultative committee of the ministry of external affairs wrote a letter to Sushma Swaraj, minister of external affairs on June 8 regarding a poster released by the Overseas Friends of the BJP. The poster is regarding the observations of the International Day of Yoga on June 19, 2016. Yechury said that it is both surprising and objectionable that the poster declares that this event is being supported by the High Commission of India, ministry of external affairs, ministry of ayush and the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.

RSS Thinker who Scoffed at Ambedkar has Turned Arts Institution into Sangh Meeting Venue

The following is the statement issued by SAHMAT on June 9, 2016.
RAM Bahadur Rai, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s thinker who described BR Ambedkar’s role in framing the constitution “a myth” also has another achievement to his credit. Just two months after being appointed chairman of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, he has turned the government-funded culture institution into a centre for RSS activities in Delhi.

Philippines: Strong Man Emerges

THE Philippines, long used to dynastic politics, has for a change elected as president a grassroots politician, Rodrigo Duterte from Mindanao. The two previous occupants of the Malacanang Presidential Palace, Gloria Macapagal and Benigno Aquino, were children of former presidents. The candidate who stood second in the elections, Mar Roxas, is also the son of a former president of the Phillipines. Rodrigo Duterte, the tough talking long serving mayor of Davao City, who will be the new president of the Philippines rose from a much humbler environment.

Reforming the Regulator: Parliamentary Committee Report on Medical Council of India

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) identifies India as one of the 57 countries with a critically low level of human resources available for healthcare. This would not come as a surprise given the evidence in the country of widespread shortages of skilled health workers of all kind including doctors, nurses and other health workers – in most parts of the country. The shortage of health workers and the attendant poor quality of skills in a large proportion of them is one of the biggest obstacles to the availability of quality healthcare services in India.

BJP’s Claim of Corruption-free Govt Falls Flat in Maharashtra

MAHARASHTRA Revenue and Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse, the number two in the BJP-led state government, addressed a press conference at the BJP office in Mumbai on June 4 to announce his resignation. Putting up a brave face, he said he had resigned from the state government to uphold high moral values of BJP, although the charges of corruption levelled against him were “baseless” and those pointing fingers at him had not produced any evidence.

Work Sincerely to Fulfil People’s Needs, Vijayan Tells Secretariat Officials

KERALA Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called upon officials posted at the state secretariat to work sincerely in coordination with each other and focus on the needs of the people to ensure that the election mandate is enforced properly by the government.

General Insurance Employees’ Association (South Zone) Conference Held

THE 16th triennial conference of General Insurance Employees’ Association (South Zone), affiliated to All India Insurance Employee’s Association (AIIEA), was held in Mysore in Karnataka on June 6-8. In a resolution unanimously adopted at the conference, the Association demanded the government not to disinvest shares of public sector general insurance companies -- The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., United India Insurance Co. Ltd., National Insurance Co. Ltd., Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd.

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