THE Washington Post published an investigative report on October 29, 2025, claiming that the Indian government had unofficially directed LIC to invest $3.9 billion in the embattled Adani Group. It is important to lay out the facts for the public to realise the challenges that LIC may have to face in future. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the biggest public sector undertaking in India, holds 65 per cent of market share even today, despite facing tough competition from 25 private life insurance companies including foreign ones for the past 26 years.

The imperialist US under President Donald Trump has started a full-fledged campaign of tariff terrorism against not only India but also several other countries. Trump has imposed the highest 50% additional tariffs on Indian exports to the US. Brazil is the only other country to have been slapped with such high tariffs. At the same time, Trump wants India to sign an agreement for free trade with almost nil tariffs on US exports to India.Tariff means an entry tax on imports at the border, what we generally call import duty.

SOME words become heavy with meaning. For the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the word "terrorism" is one of them. When used carelessly, it stops being just a word for a violent act and becomes a label for an entire community. It becomes a lens that distorts how people see them, making their hopes seem suspicious and their pain seem less important.The recent heinous terrorist acts in Pahalgam and Delhi cannot be but condemned by all shades of opinions. It reminds us of a deep and painful process of tragic events in Kashmir since 1990. The loss of precious innocent lives is a tragedy.

On November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, the Palestine Solidarity Initiative hosted a "Concert for Palestine" in Kolkata's central business district, Esplanade. The venue, in front of the Oberoi Grand, was draped with strings of Palestinian and Indian chain flags.

The country witnessed well-attended protests by the workers and peasants on November 26, 2025, the fifth anniversary of the historic united struggle - the general strike, grameen hartal and Delhi Chalo called by Samyukta Kisan Morcha as well as the Central Trade Unions. In 2020-21 the concerted attack on the productive classes - the workers and peasants - in the form of the pro-corporate labour codes and the farm laws was resolutely fought back. It involved a prolonged militant united struggle lasting 380 days amidst a pandemic and also, martyrdom of 736 protesting farmers.