Peoples Democracy newsletter

Peoples Democracy newsletter

Uttarakhand: Protests against Exile Order for Dalit Families

TODAY, society has reached the 21st century, but the upper caste people of Subhai village in Joshimath, a remote development block in Chamoli district, are still living in the 16th century. In this village, even today, if a person does not attend meetings, the powerful people of the village punish him by imposing hefty fines. In May 2024, during the Baisakhi fair, drummer, Pushkar Lal was ordered by these bullies to play the drums all night despite being ill.

Why No Census?

THE decadal census, which was due in 2021, has not been held so far. In the union budget 2024-25, no substantial provision has been made for conducting the census. The centre has also not extended the deadline of June 2024 to freeze administrative boundaries which are necessary to conduct the census as per the administrative boundaries like districts, taluk, block or village levels.So the 2021 census, which should have begun in 2020, is indefinitely delayed.

What We Can Learn from the Global Microsoft Outage?

A GLOBAL IT outage on July 19th, 2024, affected more than 8.5 Million Microsoft computers worldwide, disrupting airlines, hospitals, banks, train services, and even government agencies. The outage was caused by a faulty update from the cybersecurity provider, CrowdStrike, which caused Microsoft Windows machines to crash and get stuck in the infamous “blue screen of death” booting loop.

Betrayal of the Poor, Women, Youth, Workers, and Farmers Bonanza for Corporate Cronies and Foreign Interests

AIKS: UNION BUDGET OPENS DOORS FOR AGRIBUSINESSESThe union budget promotes further centralisation and encroaches on states' federal rights, while driving corporatization of agriculture to benefit predatory agribusinesses. Agricultural and allied sector allocations have continuously declined from 5.44 per cent in 2019 to 3.15 per cent currently, with a 21.2 per cent decrease compared to 2022-23. No measures ensure assured crop procurement at C2+50 per cent, and there is no increase in allocations for MGNREGA, PM-KISAN, and PMFBY over Interim Budget.

SKM: Union Budget Stands for Corporatisation of Agriculture

THE Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has strongly criticised the union budget for its obstinate direction of corporatisation of agriculture at the cost of farmers and workers, and usurping the rights of state governments thus violating the basic concept of the federal character of the Constitution of India.The budget prepared under the duress of international finance capital has declared a tax exemption of 5 per cent for MNC’s and is not ready to tax the corporates and super rich, while 67 per cent of the GST collected as indirect tax is from 50 per cent of the poor population.

Apple Farmers Meet in Srinagar, Plan Struggles on War-footing for Remunerative Price

THE National Coordination Committee (NCC) of the Apple Farmers’ Federation of India (AFFI) held its first meeting at Srinagar on July 20. The meeting was presided by AFFI’s co-convenor, Rakesh Singha, while the introductory address was delivered by convenor Mohd Yousuf Tarigami. A political and organisational report was placed by Shubhojeet Dey on behalf of the convenor.

CITU Denounces Karnataka Govt's Proposal to Increase Working Hours in IT Sector

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), in a statement issued on July 23, has vehemently criticised the Karnataka government's recent move to amend the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act of 1961, which would increase the working hours in the IT/ITES/BPO sector to 14 hours a day. It said that the proposed amendment is an infringement on basic workers' rights and personal life.According to CITU, the proposed changes would force workers into a gruelling 14-hour workday, enabling IT/ITES companies to reduce the number of shifts from three to two.

A Regressive Contractionary Budget

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on July 23IN the context of the economic realities of high levels of unemployment, high food inflation rate, unprecedented widening of inequalities and the slowing down of private investment, the budget should have focused on expanding economic activities. Instead, its proposals are contractionary and regressive.

Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand BJP Govts Must Rescind This Divisive Order

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on July 20

THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) strongly condemns the decision by the BJP state governments in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand directing all eateries along the entire stretch of the Kanwar Yatra route to display the owners' names. Clearly, this is designed to sharpen communal polarisation and foster tensions among religious communities.

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