AS we go to press, the state election commission of Tripura might declare the schedule for the election to the three tier panchayat bodies of the state. But the record of the last 15 months of the BJP-IPFT rule in the state puts a big question mark about whether the polls will be free and fair. The undemocratic manner of functioning of the state election commissioner too has added to the worry.
THE NDA government has decided to privatise five airports at Lucknow, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore and Ahmadabad and decided to hand over these airports to Adani Group. Raising the issue in Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour on June 24, CPI(M) MP K K Ragesh said that LDF government in Kerala is willing to take over the Thiruvananthapuram airport.
THE International Labour Organization (ILO) became a part of the Modi government-appointed so-called expert committee deciding on the methodology of calculation and fixing national minimum wage in India. In the process, it conveniently ignored all existing tripartite forums and existing laws, including a Supreme Court judgement.
FACEBOOK’S proposed currency Libra – or as a wag put it, Facebucks – has created a storm. Libertarians see Libra, a variant of a cryptocurrency backed by Facebook’s big bucks and the bevy of companies that it has put together, bringing the day when cryptocurrencies will truly challenge all global currencies and fulfilling Hayek’s dream of The Denationalisation of Money.
THE president’s address to the joint session of parliament, the first after the Lok Sabha election, was expected to spell out the vision and priorities of the second Modi government. But President Ram Nath Kovind’s speech was sparse in detail and more went unsaid than said.
It is clear from the speech that the ruling party sees the “New India” as radically different from the India before 2014. The RSS notion of a Hindu nationalist Bharat underpins their vision of a ‘New India’.
THE Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) has submitted a memorandum to parliamentarians on June 25, drawing their attention to an urgent issue that concerns journalists today. The minister for labour Santosh Gangwar has announced that new labour codes will be introduced in the forthcoming session of the Lok Sabha.
ONLY about 22 per cent of women of working age (defined as 15 years of age or more) were gainfully employed; unemployment among women has doubled and women’s wages/salaries languish at half to two thirds of what men doing similar jobs get. These are some of the shocking revelations contained in the recently released report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2017-18, carried out by the government. It may be recalled that the report was ready in December 2018 but the Modi government deliberately suppressed it till after the general elections.
VETERAN CPI(M) and trade union leader Comrade B Madhava passed away at his residence in Mangalore recently. He was 81. He was ailing for last few years. He is survived by his wife and three sons. He was associated with the CPI(M) for over four decades.
THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions, in a statement issued on June 21, has opposed the privatisation measures incorporated in the 100 days Action Plan proposed by the ministry of railways with the approval of the minister of railways. The railway board has directed that immediate action be taken to implement the action plan by August 31, 2019.