FROM June 13 to 15, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries met at a luxury spa called Borgo Egnazia in the Italian town of Savelletri. The entire meeting had the air of obsolescence.
THE Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), in a statement issued on June 19, has called on the government to engage with the real representatives of farmers in the upcoming pre-budget consultations. This follows the announcement that the finance minister will hold in-person consultations with various stakeholders, including farmer associations and agricultural economists, on June 21, 2024, to gather ideas for the union budget 2024-25.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha has been submitting Memoranda agrarian crisis.
THE SFI Maharashtra state committee held its four-day state-level study camp from May 30 to June 2, 2024, at the Comrade Godavari Shamrao Parulekar Bhavan at Talasari in Palghar district. It was the first time that Palghar district was hosting a state SFI camp. It was attended by 160 student activists from 17 districts. They included 40 girl students.The SFI in Maharashtra for many decades has the tradition of holding regular study camps every year at the beginning of the academic session in June. However, this tradition was interrupted due to the Covid pandemic in 2020-21.
Erosion of the Public Distribution System and higher open market prices loom over people already suffering from high inflation.THE Indian people have been dogged by a rather macabre paradox in recent years, and it has forcefully struck once again this year.
IN a shocking incident in Hindaun city, Karauli district, Rajasthan, a minor mute and deaf tribal girl was raped and set on fire on May 9, 2024. After struggling for life for 11 days, she succumbed to her injuries. It is a matter of sorrow and shame that more than a month has passed, but the BJP government led by Bhajan Lal Sharma has not taken any action yet. The rapists and murderers are still roaming free, and the family's pleas have gone unheard.
ELECTIONS to the European Parliament held on June 9, saw the emergence of far-right parties as a significant force. Many of these parties are pro-capital, against immigration and also climate skeptics. In a globalised world these results are ominous.The centre-right Conservative group, European People’s Party was barely able to maintain its vote share and seats in these elections. The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (centre-left) saw a marginal drop in their vote share (1 per cent) and seats (minus 4 seats).
THE National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) addressed a letter to the secretary, department of empowerment of persons with disabled, on June 19, bringing to his notice the reported discrimination faced by disabled UPSC aspirants at an examination centre in Madurai. The letter referred to a clipping from the June 17, 2024 Madurai edition of The Hindu.
THE year 2023 has officially been declared the hottest year ever since global temperature records were kept in 1850, breaking the previous highest set in 2016. This was not a flash in the pan. Ten of the hottest years ever have been in the decade 2014-23. Average global temperature in 2023 was 1.18 deg C (degrees Celsius) higher than the 20th century average, and about 1.4 deg C higher than the late 19th century average, almost touching the dreaded 1.5 deg C limit set by the Paris Agreement and beyond which several changes in climate may become irreversible.
THIS time, the people of Haryana have foiled all the tricks of the BJP and voted to punish it in the Lok Sabha elections. In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP had won all the ten seats in the state with huge margins except one. This time it has barely won five seats.
The petition signed by concerned citizens has called for a JPC probe, legal expert consultation, and meaningful debate on the proposed reforms.CLOSE to 3,700 signatories, including Tushar Gandhi, Tanika Sarkar, Henri Tiphagne, Major Gen (retd) Sudhir Vombatkere, Teesta Setalvad, and several others have sought the urgent intervention of chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, Jayant Chaudhary, national chairman, RLD and all the INDIA Alliance partners, in staying ‘anti-democratic’ new criminal laws slated to come into effect from J