Withdraw Amendments to the Forest Act 1927

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat has written a letter to Prakash Javadekar, minister for environment, forest and climate change, on July 9, 2019, regarding the proposed amendments to the Indian Forest Act 1927. Below we publish the text of the letter.

The Numbers the Finance Minister Does Not Want You to See

ONE of the most startling aspects of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech is that it did not provide the numbers that are the basic reason for having a budget speech in the first place: the numbers relating to overall revenues and expenditure of the government, either for the previous year or for the current year. This was widely commented on, and the FM’s response was that all these numbers are available in the supplementary material provided in the budget documents, so there is no need to go into them in the speech.

Chandrayaan-2 and the Indian Space Journey

INDIA’S on-going space exploration programme takes its next step with the launch on July 15, 2019 of Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) second venture to the moon. The first mission was mainly conducted by the orbiting spacecraft while a probe with the Indian flag was sent to crash on the moon’s surface, symbolically “planting” the Indian tricolour on the moon.

Bihar Continues to Plague in Social Development

“KERALA healthiest state, Bihar worst’, this is how TOI has reported the NITI Aayog’s latest health index released on of June 25. The report covers the period of 2015 to 2016 and 2017 to 2018. According to the news’ the report prepared by the NITI Aayog in collaboration with the health ministry and the technical assistance from the World Bank, it has studied the comparative performances of different categories of states, larger, smaller and union territories.

Uphold Women’s Rights: AIDWA

THIS period has been a very challenging time for all the progressive, democratic and secular forces in the country. The results of the 17th Lok Sabha elections have been a great setback. The BJP aroused nationalist jingoism, zeroing in on Pulwama and Balakot, and shifted the poll narrative from the burning issues of the people. The consolidation of the Hindutva vote bank through communally charged campaigns and violent attacks strengthened communal polarisation and helped the BJP.

Karnataka: BJP’s Subversion of Democracy

THE sordid happenings in Karnataka have reached a climax with the resignations of 14 MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JD(S) and two independents who were supporting the coalition. This development has come after a series of attempts by the BJP in the past one year to topple the Kumaraswamy government. The BJP was not reconciled to the fact that it could not run a government with majority support after the 2018 assembly elections, even though it had emerged as the single largest party.

The Week in Parliament

THE 17th Lok Sabha assembled for its first sitting on June 17. On the first day, Virendra Kumar took oath before the president and assumed the charge of pro-tem speaker. Subsequently, all the newly elected members of Lok Sabha took oath. On June 19, BJP MP Om Birla was elected the Speaker. P R Natarajan will be the floor leader of the CPI(M) in Lok Sabha. Felicitating the speaker, Natarajan said Birla has an experience of more than 25 years in legislative assembly as well as in Lok Sabha.

The Sluggish Growth in Tax Revenue

THE growth in tax revenue of the union government has slowed down perceptibly in the last two years. The growth (over the previous year) in total tax revenue accruing to the centre was 17 per cent in 2016-17; it slowed to 11 per cent in 2017-18, and further to a mere 8 per cent in 2018-19. Since this growth is in nominal terms, the growth in real terms has been even slower. In fact in 2018-19 the growth in real tax revenue could not have been more than about 3 per cent over the previous year, which is much less than the growth in the real GDP of the country.

TELANGANA: CPI(M) Opposes Construction of New Assembly, Secretariat Buildings

THE CPI(M) has condemned the decision of the TRS government in Telangana to demolish a 150-year-old heritage structure and construct a new secretariat building at Erra Manzil. CPI(M) state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said the funds earmarked for the construction of the new secretariat building should be used for various welfare schemes. Buildings in the old secretariat are fully equipped for smooth functioning of the state legislature and administration, he added.

Hold Assembly Elections in the State of Jammu & Kashmir

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on June 29, 2019

THE union home minister’s intervention in parliament while moving the extension of president’s rule for another six months in Jammu & Kashmir was provocative, leading to further alienation of the people of the state. This is not healthy for India’s unity and integrity. Alienation only feeds growth of terrorism, which the country is unitedly determined to defeat.

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