Scheme Workers Stage Protest in Jammu

Workers of various central government schemes including ASHA, Anganwadi and Mid-day Meal and those employed in contingency work staged a day-long protest in Jammu on January 20 in support of their long-pending demands. Hundreds of such workers from different districts of Jammu region participated in the protest. All workers holding red flags and placards in their hands raised slogans demanding minimum wage of Rs 18,000 per month and social security benefits.

DYFI Conference Resolves to Fight for Employment, Secularism and Democracy

Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) held its 10th all India conference in Kochi, Kerala from February 1-5, 2017 resolving to build widest possible unity of progressive youth in the country and fight for employment, secularism and democracy. 680 delegates representing one crore 15 lakh members assembled for the conference. Six delegates representing fraternal foreign youth organisations also participated.The conference was preceded by three jathas. One jatha carrying the torch to be lit at the conference venue started from martyrs’ memorial at Koothuparamba in Kannur district.

Tripura CITU Conference Calls for Defeating Enemies of Unity, Peace and Development

The enemies of unity, peace and development have again started using their fangs to create fissures among the people, disturb the peaceful atmosphere prevailing here, and sabotage the ongoing innumerable developmental activities throughout the state.

Thinking Together

What is the CPI(M)’s position on the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016?Is it not a gross violation of the concept of citizenship which should not be defined by religion?S Choudhury, HyderabadThe Citizenship Amendment Bill now being considered by a Joint Select Committee of Parliament seeks to provide citizenship to people who suffer religious prosecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. This would cover Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Parsis who are religious minorities in these countries. The basic aim of the amendment is objectionable.

Decree on Peace

The Bolsheviks under Lenin’s leadership had opposed the participation of Tsarist Russia in the First World War. Lenin had declared the war to be an “imperialist war” which had destroyed the lives of millions of workers who were drafted by the imperialist governments in Europe as soldiers to fight the war.Unlike the Social democrats of various European countries, the Bolsheviks opposed the war and called for an end to the conflict.

MPs Write to PM against Scrapping of Dalit and Adivasi Plan

On February 9, 2017, 26 MPs, cutting across parties barring the BJP, have written a letter to the prime minister to restore the Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP). The current budget had discontinued SCP and TSP and replaced it with allocations for welfare for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).

Differing Concepts of Populism

The same term is often employed by different people with different meanings, and this can be a source of immense confusion. The World Bank has done this to good effect in the past, taking over terms that are being used in a particular sense, especially by the Left, and using them in a very different sense, in order to create deliberate confusion and exploit in some way the sympathetic feeling that the term had attracted from people in its initial usage. “Structural adjustment” is a prime example of such appropriation by the World Bank.

Nuclear Energy in India: From Self-Reliance To Import Dependence

India was an early entrant in the field of nuclear energy. It was Dr Homi J Bhabha who initiated nuclear science research in India by setting up the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in 1945 and later the Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay (now known as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre or BARC) in 1954 to intensify effort to deploy nuclear technology for generating electricity.

Stop Misuse of “Money Bill” Route

The government is increasingly resorting to the money bill route to avoid the Rajya Sabha having any say in the legislation making process. Since the BJP-led government has no majority in the Rajya Sabha, it has been resorting to the device of the “Money Bill” to overcome this hurdle. All democratic forces must extend support to the demand that the misuse of the money bill be ended forthwith.The Modi government is systematically downgrading the Rajya Sabha by misusing the definition of “Money Bill” to get legislations passed in parliament by bypassing the upper house.

Act to Stop the Death of Farmers, CPI(M) Pickets 300 Centres in Tamil Nadu

More than sixty thousand cadres of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) courted arrest for picketing across the state condemning the anti-people policies of the state and central governments on February 7.The protesters demanded compensation of Rs 10 lakhs to the families of farmers who had committed suicide due to drought in the Cauvery Delta. They also demanded compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre for paddy, Rs 50,000 per acre for banana, plantains and Rs 75,000 per acre for sugar cane farmers as drought relief.

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