Authoritarianism Reinforced

THE Covid-19 pandemic has intensified and reinforced the authoritarian set-up which had been ushered in by the Modi government. The authoritarian trend had begun with the Modi government being installed in office in May 2014. It got consolidated with its return to power in May 2019. Now one year hence, the extraordinary situation created by the Covid pandemic has been fully utilised to strengthen the authoritarian regime. Even before the virus hit India with full force, the government was pre-occupied with suppressing the anti-CAA/NRC protests.

Punish the Guilty of Visakhapatnam Gas Leak

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statements THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) is aghast at the deadly gas leak that took place in LG Polymers plant in Visakhapatnam. More than ten people have died so far and nearly a thousand hospitalised. Hospital authorities anticipate the deaths to rise.This accident is a clear case of criminal negligence by the management of this company.

EIA Notification 2020: not now, not ever!

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had released a Draft Notification on Environment Impact Assessment 2020 (EIA Notification 2020) on 12 March 2020, on the eve of the world’s largest nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and had called for responses in the next 60 days. This time period is scheduled to expire next week on 11 May 2020. EIA Notification 2020 is to replace and supersede EIA Notification 2006 and the many amendments issued since then.

The Pandemic that Endures

ON the very first day of the lockdown, March 25, a sanitation worker in Delhi, Suresh, died at a sewage treatment plant while his co-worker, Jasbir, was admitted to hospital in a critical condition. They were not only working in extremely hazardous conditions but they were also bereft of equipment considered essential for such work all over the world.Sanitation workers are acknowledged as being frontline warriors in the battle against Covid-19 but the reality of their caste means that this so-called recognition makes little difference to their conditions of living and social status.

The Valiant Worli Revolt

THE basic cause of the mass upsurge of the Worlis lay in their abominable condition of wretchedness and their suppression by the tyrant landlords. They had rotted in these conditions for over a century – conditions they had thoroughly hated, but fear and helplessness suppressed their raging fire. They lived with bitter despair and were anxious to end their slavery, but did not know how to do it. The entry of Kisan Sabha led by the communists filled this gap. Worli’s movement of liberation started in May 1945, when they raised the red banner of revolt against serfdom.

Red Flag over Reichstag - 75 Years

MAY 9 is the day when the Second World War had officially concluded with the surrender of the Nazi Germany and is hence observed as ‘Victory Day’. This year marks its 75th anniversary and is being observed world over in the midst of acute economic crisis, often compared with the Great Depression of the 1930s.

COVID-19: The Critical Case of Mumbai

MUMBAI, the financial, commercial and entertainment nerve centre of India, has been under serious distress because of the COVID-19 pandemic.Mumbai generates 33 per cent of the country’s income tax, 60 per cent of custom duty, 20 per cent of central excise duty, and 40 per cent of the foreign trade, 25 per cent of industrial output, 70 per cent of capital formation, 10 per cent of factory employment. The city is one of the top 10 centres of global financial flow, contributing over 6 per cent of India’s GDP.

75th Anniversary of the Victory Over Nazi-Fascism

In the Name of Freedom, Peace and Truth— Against Fascism and WarBelow we publish the joint statement issued by 75 Communist and Workers' Parties on the 75th anniversary of the victory over fascism.THE victory over Nazi-fascism in the Second World War is a major event in History, the memory of which must be preserved and defended in the face of repeated attempts at historical falsification aimed at making us forget the decisive role played by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, by the communists and by anti-fascists from around the world.Genera

The Economic Steps Needed in the Current Period

The nationwide lockdown has been extended by another two weeks. The problems that emerged since the beginning of the lockdown and the difficulties being faced by crores of Indian people particularly the migrant workers, the daily labourers and the poor who are unable to survive will continue to deepen.In this context, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on May 2, has put forward in public domain the economic steps that are needed to be taken by the government in the current period.

US Trade War on China Takes a Corona Viral Turn

THE Trump administration has expanded the trade war against China to now include the Covid-19 pandemic. With more than a million already infected in the US and about sixty thousand dead, Trump’s assertions in February that this is just a small flu has now been replaced by China did it, even talking about making China pay reparations. A part of this is Trump’s dire need to scapegoat someone, or some country, for the US total incompetence in handling the Covid-19 epidemic. But that is not all.

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