ON March 9, before the announcement of schedule for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Left Democratic Front in Kerala announced its candidates for the 20 constituencies in the state. CPI(M) is contesting 16 seats and CPI in four. Six MLA’s and six sitting MP’s are in the fray, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said in a media conference at Thiruvananthapuram.CPI(M) central committee member and MP, K Sreemathy will contest again in Kannur.

MAINSTREAM bourgeois economics which is what occupies a hegemonic position in the academic world today is often criticized for being “unreal”, for proceeding on the basis of assumptions that obviously do not correspond to reality. This criticism however, though valid, does not capture its real intent, which is to serve as a means of camouflaging imperialism. The theoretical content of mainstream bourgeois economics is to advance a set of propositions about the functioning of capitalism which deny any need for, and hence any role of, imperialism in capitalist development.

THE air strikes by India across the Line of Control (LoC) have been accompanied by much chest-thumping by the prime minister, by government and ruling party spokespersons, and camp-follower TV and other media personalities. This despite India’s reluctance or inability to release convincing evidence such as imagery of damage caused to and inside the targeted structures in Jaba Top, or evidence of a Pakistani F-16 fighter brought down during the Pakistani counter-strike. Pakistan has gone to town claiming that only a single crow was killed, and only a few trees were destroyed.

THE 17th Lok Sabha election, the notification for which has been issued, is going to be the most consequential election in the history of independent India.  Much is at stake.  This election will have a bearing on the future of the secular-democratic Republic as enshrined in the Constitution.Five years of Modi rule have already weakened and eroded the basic principles on which the Constitution rests.