Media and Minority Rights Under the Scanner

JOURNALISTS gathered at a seminar on media and minority rights called upon their colleagues to ensure fairer and wider coverage of the issues of dalits, tribals and religious minorities in the media. The seminar was organised by the Delhi Union of Journalists on November 12, 2016, in association with Kerala Union of Journalists and Delhi Media Centre for Research and Publication Trust. It was chaired by DUJ president S K Pande.Research shows that there are few dalit journalists today, pointed out veteran journalist and media analyst Sukumar Muralidharan in his overview address.

Left Parties Call for All India Protest

Left Parties Call for All India Protest Against growing agonies of the people due to Withdrawal of Rs 1000 & Rs 500 notes The leaders of the Left parties, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)- Liberation, Revolutionary Socialist Party, All India Forward Bloc and Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) met on November 22 and issued the following statement.THE Left parties have decided that an all India protest action will be organised against the continuing mountin

Kerala Protests against the Move to Destroy Cooperative sector

THE entire state of Kerala is voicing its vehement opposition to the curbs imposed on the cooperative sector following the withdrawal of the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.District and rural cooperative banks are prohibited from exchanging old notes of these values or accept deposits in these denominations even from their own customers.

Karnataka: Jail-Bharo Agitation Demanding Land-Housing Rights

KARNATAKA witnessed a powerful struggle last week, on November 18 with thousands of landless people courting arrest demanding land and housing rights. Responding to the call given by more than 15 mass organisations including Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), Karnataka Prantha Krishi Kooligarara Sangha and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the toiling masses participated in the agitation with enthusiasm.According to the reports available with the state centres of these organisations, the agitation evoked good response at around 27 district and 57 taluk centres across the state.

FSMI Decries Ban on Criticism against Demonetisation

THE Free Software Movement of India (FSMI) in a statement issued on November 24 has decried the ban on criticism against the demonetisation policy of the BJP led central government. The district magistrate of Indore has issued an order – Order/2956/RADM/2016 on November 14 under Section 144 – banning any criticism on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc on exchange of old currency that is “objectionable” or can “cause incitement”.

Demonetisation as a Means of Fighting “Black Money”

SO many lies are being spread by the government which is currently busy wrecking the Indian economy in the manner of a bull in a china shop, so many spurious economic arguments are being trotted out by it, that one has to be extremely vigilant not to be swept away by this tide of unreason. In the current article, and the two subsequent ones to follow, I propose to examine some of the more persistent assertions that are being made by government spokesmen.The most persistent assertion of course is that demonetisation is a measure against “black money”.

On Demonetisation

“It would then have been self-evident from the outset that the evil of bourgeois society is not to be remedied by ‘transforming’ the banks or by founding a rational ‘money system’”.- Karl Marx, Grundrisse (1857-8)AS is the wont of this government, the recent move to demonetise 500 and 1000 rupee currency notes has now become about nationalism. Not merely national interest, but nationalism itself. Such grandstanding is becoming a constant habit from this government, every time it finds itself walking on thin ice.

Chit Fund Sufferers Rally in Kolkata

WHILE long queues wait outside banks and ATMs in Kolkata, thousands marched demanding their lost money in chit funds. West Bengal chief minister’s histrionics on demonetisation issue cannot erase the truth that her party was the biggest beneficiary of illegal chit funds in the state. Nearly 20 lakh people lost their hard earned money to cheating by companies like Saradha and Rosevalley.

Central Offensive against Credit Cooperatives

THE frenzy unleashed by the demonetisation of 1000 and 500 rupee currency notes has entered the third week. The Indian economy is still decelerating and in a sense imploding. The first assessment of the likely impact of the currency debacle on GDP growth has come from AMBIT, who has revised the GDP growth rate for 2016-17 from 6.8 to 3.5 percent. They estimate the growth in the current quarter to be in the negative. I find it difficult to reconcile with such a precipitous fall but, the Indian growth story has been tripped.

Allow Cooperative Banks to Exchange Demonetised Notes: BEFI

THE Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) has appealed to the finance minister to ensure that cooperative banks including primary agricultural cooperatives are permitted to exchange old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to mitigate the sufferings of the rural populace, particularly peasants.BEFI general secretary Pradip Biswas, in a letter to finance minister Arun Jaitley on November 17, said the Reserve Bank of India’s decision barring District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) and other cooperatives from exchanging and accepting demonetised notes has landed the rural people, particularly the

Search form

Peoples Democracy newsletter