Decoding the Budget Numbers, and the Words!

SINCE Piyush Goyal tabled the interim budget before parliament earlier this year (February 1, 2019), the Lok Sabha elections giving the Modi government an almost certain additional five years in office is not the only development. In addition to the reality of deepening agrarian distress and grim employment situation that were known even then, at least three other mutually related hard facts relevant to the finalisation of the budget for 2019-20 have also become known since, being acknowledged even by the Economic Survey.

Union Budget: Payback Gift to Corporates

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on July 5THE first budget of the second Modi government presented by Nirmala Sitharaman was a payback gift after the elections to corporate India and foreign financial interests. The budget and the speech were full of several promises and commitments that would help big corporate capital and the wealthy to strengthen their grip on the Indian economy and foster greater integration of the Indian economy with international financial markets.

Tripura: Nomination Filing Marred By Violence

THE process of filing nomination papers for the three tier panchayat elections in Tripura concluded on July 8 with widespread incidents of violence. The state election commission here, as was apprehended in an earlier column, completely failed to provide security and an atmosphere of free and fair election to the opposition. The figures of candidates from different political parties themselves are proof enough to show how the opposition has been barred from taking part in the election. Out of 6,111 seats of 591 gram panchayats, BJP fielded candidates in 6,127.

Kerala Marches Forward in Health

KERALA has once again topped in the latest health ranking NITI Aayog report, "Healthy States, Progressive India". The report ranks states and union territories on their year-on-year incremental change as well as overall performance with respect to 23 health indicators such as neonatal mortality rate, ‘under five’ mortality rate, percentage of low birth weight infants, sex ratio at birth etc., NITI Aayog had first come out with its state-wise health rankings in February 2018 over financial year 2014-15 (base year) to 2015-16 (reference year).

Stop Eviction of Tribals

FOUR organisations, (Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch, Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Mahasabha, Campaign for Survival and Dignity and Bharat Jan Andolan) with lakhs of members from adivasi communities have written a letter to Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, seeking his intervention to stop the attacks on tribals and forest dwellers by the central government. Below we reproduce the letter:We are writing to express our deep concern at the active attempt to attack the rights of tribals and forest dwellers by your government.

Withdraw Amendments to the Forest Act 1927

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat has written a letter to Prakash Javadekar, minister for environment, forest and climate change, on July 9, 2019, regarding the proposed amendments to the Indian Forest Act 1927. Below we publish the text of the letter.I AM writing to you in connection with the proposed amendments to the Indian Forest Act 1927. I am doing so even though these are in the nature of a first draft circulated by your ministry, because your written statement in the Lok Sabha on June 28, 2019 (starred question No.

The Numbers the Finance Minister Does Not Want You to See

ONE of the most startling aspects of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech is that it did not provide the numbers that are the basic reason for having a budget speech in the first place: the numbers relating to overall revenues and expenditure of the government, either for the previous year or for the current year.

Chandrayaan-2 and the Indian Space Journey

INDIA’S on-going space exploration programme takes its next step with the launch on July 15, 2019 of Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) second venture to the moon. The first mission was mainly conducted by the orbiting spacecraft while a probe with the Indian flag was sent to crash on the moon’s surface, symbolically “planting” the Indian tricolour on the moon.

Bihar Continues to Plague in Social Development

“KERALA healthiest state, Bihar worst’, this is how TOI has reported the NITI Aayog’s latest health index released on of June 25. The report covers the period of 2015 to 2016 and 2017 to 2018.

Uphold Women’s Rights: AIDWA

THIS period has been a very challenging time for all the progressive, democratic and secular forces in the country. The results of the 17th Lok Sabha elections have been a great setback. The BJP aroused nationalist jingoism, zeroing in on Pulwama and Balakot, and shifted the poll narrative from the burning issues of the people. The consolidation of the Hindutva vote bank through communally charged campaigns and violent attacks strengthened communal polarisation and helped the BJP.

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