‘Abolishing Import Duty on Wheat is Anti-national’

THE general secretary of the CPI(M) and leader of the CPI(M) group in Rajya Sabha, Sitaram Yechury characterised the government decision to abolish the import duty on wheat as anti-national. He had given a notice under rule 267 for a discussion on the subject. When he appealed to the chair to accept the notice, the BJP members tried to stop him by raising a din. This was opposed by Anand Sharma of the Congress, Satish Chandra Mishra of BSP and Sharad Yadav of JD(U).Yechury said that abolition of import duty on wheat is shameful.

CP Vietnam Polit Bureau Member Visits India

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and central secretariat member Hari Singh Kang, met Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Polit Bureau member of Communist Party of Vietnam and chairperson of the National Assembly of Socialist Republic of Vietnam and discussed various issues of mutual interest. Nguyen Thu Kim Ngan is on a four day official visit to India from December 8 to 11, 2016.On behalf of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Thu Kim Ngan extended an invitation to Sitaram Yechury to visit Vietnam next year.

‘Major Defense Partner’ of US tag compromises India’s Sovereignty, Strategic Autonomy: Yechury to PM

SITARAM Yechury has written to the Prime Minister raising concerns over the finalisation of ‘Major Defense Partner’ designation to India by the US.

SFI Condemns ‘Vittiya Saksharta Abhiyaan’

THE central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) in a statement issued on December 8 has noted that the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) has shamelessly directed all higher educational institutions to launch campaigns in the name of ‘Vittiya Saksharta Abhiyaan’ using students and faculty members to campaign in favour of demonetisation from December 12- January 12.

Four Global Cities to Ban Diesel Vehicles by 2025

WITH the worst of the winter pollution crisis in Delhi and other northern cities having subsided for the moment, the episodic clamour in the media, the judiciary, government agencies and among the public at large has also quietened down. No doubt it will flare up at the next peak in air pollution. Forgotten, it seems, are the short-term fixes furiously discussed then. And, in the days of instant media, nobody has the patience to discuss long-term solutions.Efforts to obfuscate the nature of the problem, and hence the determined steps required to tackle it, continue as usual.

Victory for AIPEF: SC Disallows Reliance Power from Recovering Rs 1,050 Cr from Discoms

IN a victory for the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), the Supreme Court has disallowed Reliance Power-owned Sasan Power Limited from recovering Rs 1,050 crore from several state-owned andprivate distribution companies.A bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton F Nariman on December 8 set aside the order of the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity (APTEL) asking the discoms to pay the dues to Sasan Power Limited for supply of electricity from its plant in Madhya Pradesh. Sasan Power had argued that discoms that procured electricity must pay from 31 March, 2013, when the

PUNJAB: Comrade Rattan Singh Marxwadi Chetna Kendra Inaugurated at Derabasi

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury inaugurated the Comrade Rattan Singh Marxwadi Chetna Kendra at Derabasi on December 10, 2016 at Derabasi in district Mohali, on the first death anniversary of Comrade Rattan Singh. Comrade Rattan Singh was the chairman of the state control commission for a long time.

Demonetisation – Hindutva's obscurantism In the Economic Sphere

THE traditional obscurantism of Hindutva, in the glorification of mythology as science, has had serious consequences for education in this country. Hindutva's majoritarian communalism relies in a fundamental way on obscurantism, particularly in the realm of history, and has been the source of immense suffering to the nation's minorities ever since it emerged on the political scene in its current form. But with demonetisation, a new dimension of Hindutva obscurantism has opened up before us.

Banks as Victims

IN the outcry against the disastrous demonetisation experiment of the Modi government one aspect that has not been given adequate attention is the damage it has done to the reputation and the balance sheets of the banks. Customers queueing before bank doors and ATMs seem on occasion more forgiving of the government than of the harassed bank employees, who are forced to ration out currency and offer those customers they can accommodate, less than even the maximum withdrawal permitted by the government and the RBI.

Protest against Anti-Democratic Action

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on December 11.THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the action of the Madhya Pradesh police and administration in preventing the chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, from attending a felicitation function in Bhopal.Pinarayi Vijayan had been invited to a reception hosted by various Malayali organisations in Bhopal on December 10.

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