ON April 1, 2019, the ministry of finance issued a statement announcing the GST collections for March 2019, the last month of the financial year 2018-19. The statement celebrated what was supposed to be the highest monthly collection since the introduction of GST – Rs 1,06,577 crores. What was, however, left out of the picture was what this collection put the final seal on – namely, that GST revenues for 2018-19 are well below the figure projected even in the revised estimates (RE) presented in the union budget 2019-20 on February 1, 2019.

TAMIL Nadu police, last week, denied permission for the release of booklets on Rafale scam and other issues exposing the BJP government and seized copies of the booklets, causing the ire of the general public, progressive writers and journalists.As part of the election campaign for Secular Progressive Front in Tamil Nadu, Bharathi Puthakalayam, a Chennai-based publisher, brought out booklets exposing the Modi government, one of which was a 48-page booklet in Tamil titled ‘Rafale: The Scam That Shook the Nation’, which explains the secret deal enacted by Modi, in a lucid manner.Eminent journ

NOW, that the excitement and self-congratulatory chest-thumping over India’s successful testing of its anti-satellite missile (ASAT) capability on March 27, 2019 has passed, except of course for continuous misuse in political campaigns by PM Modi, it is time to take a step back and look at the event and its strategic implications with a clearer head and a broader perspective.As will be seen, the boast by PM Modi in his telecast that the test was a moment of “utmost pride”, would have impact “for generations to come”, and meant that India was “now a space power”, with Minister, Nitin Gadkari

THE primary aim of the CPI(M) in the April-May parliamentary election is to defeat the BJP and its allies, and the Congress must decide what its priority is, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury told a ‘Meet the Press’ event in Thiruvananthapuram on March 31 in response to a question on the candidature of Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala.In Kerala, traditionally the political contest is between the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF. The BJP is not a major force in the state.

Below we reproduce the appeal issued by more than 200 writers on April 1, 2019, urging the citizens of the country to vote against hate politics and to vote for an equal and diverse India.THE upcoming election finds our country at the crossroads.  Our constitution guarantees all its citizens equal rights, the freedom to eat, pray and live as they choose, freedom of expression and the right to dissent.