Japan PM’s India Visit: Strategic Embrace!

SHINZO Abe, the prime minister of Japan, was the chief guest at the Republic Day 2014 celebrations in New Delhi. The honour accorded to the Japanese leader by the Indian government reflects the growing strategic and political ties between New Delhi and Tokyo. Abe is the first Japanese prime minister who has graced the January 26 Republic Day parade.

Organising the Unorganised

THE piece rated home based workers and part time domestic workers constitute some of the most vulnerable sections of the working class in the city of Delhi. As per the NSSO survey of 2009-10, there are at least six lakh home based workers working in different industries in the city. The count of domestic workers in Delhi is, however, not exactly known. The ILO estimated that there are about 90 million domestic workers in the country, but the number of part time domestic workers in the city is yet to be established.

JAMMU & KASHMIR: Workers in the Street for Basic Demands

ON February 26, 2014, thousands of workers belonging to different trade unions, affiliated with the CITU, from across the state of Jammu & Kashmir held a massive protest rally at Jammu in support of their demands.

Ukraine and Imperial Designs – II

IN the past few days, tensions in Ukraine have escalated, with Russia moving its troops for military exercises along the border with Ukraine. It vowed to protect the interests of Russian citizens living in the East and Southern regions of the country and naval forces stationed in Crimea. Reports indicate that Ukrainian naval chief had expressed his support to Russia, while Ukraine had called for 'popular mobilisation'.

Artists Need to Unite against Communal Fascism

THE Janvadi Lekhak Sangh (JLS) held its eighth national conference at Allahabad, on February 14 and 15, with the message that it would do all it can to unite the writers, artists and other cultural workers with the broad democratic movement in order to meet the growing threat of communal fascism in the country. On the first day of the conference, a Meet on Composite Culture was held in an effort to bring on to one platform various groups of democratic minded writers and cultural workers as well as independent writers and other intellectuals against the communal threat.

Why We are Facing Violence and Rape in West Bengal?

WEST Bengal now stands out among the states in terms of atrocities against women. National Commission for Women had to intervene more than once and was forced to visit the state. There is a strong association between increased violence against women in the state and the rule of Trinamul Congress after 2011. Immediately after the party came to power in May 2011, atrocities against women began to rise. This association cannot be seen as accidental, there is a politics behind this association. During the 34 years of Left Front rule, the state was never in this kind of miserable situation.

Prakash karat Writes to President on Ordinances

Below is the text of the letter written by Prakash Karat, CPI(M) general secretary to Pranab Mukherjee, president of India, on March 2, 2014, opposing the government's move to promulgate ordinances.I AM writing to bring to your urgent attention the proposed ordinances which the union cabinet is planning to adopt today and send them to you for promulgation.The union cabinet is considering a clutch of Bills which were not taken up in parliament during the recently concluded session.

JUSTICE FOR YUMA SHERPA: No to Commodification of Women’s Body Parts

ON January 29, 2014, 26 year old Yuma Sherpa, died in the aftermath of a surgical procedure to harvest eggs from her body, as part of the egg donation programme of a private clinic based in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi.

Yuma was persuaded by agents to donate her eggs for a surrogacy, and started undergoing the procedure early this year. Subsequently, she wanted to stop the procedure and back out altogether as she was suffering from discomfort caused by the injections, but was told by the doctor at the clinic that it was too late to go back.

Moily, Kejriwal and the Scam in Gas Pricing

RELIANCE and the near doubling of the gas price led to Kejriwal's short-lived government filing an FIR against Moily, the petroleum minister and Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited. The scam in gas pricing is of course not a Kejriwal or AAP discovery; Left MP's – Tapan Sen and Gurudas Dasgupta and earlier, late Dipankar Mukherjee – have exposed the successive scams in gas pricing that have helped Reliance to loot the people.

Who is Robbing the Banks?

ON the eve of the declaration of the schedule for general elections in 2014, P Chidambaram, finance minister in the outgoing UPA government, chose to meet the chief executives of India’s public sector banks. The cynical would argue that this must be a last attempt to get the banks to dole out some more sops before the election date. If that were to impress a section of the electorate at all, it is a clever strategy.

Search form

Peoples Democracy newsletter