The following is the statement issued by SAHMAT on June 9, 2016.
RAM Bahadur Rai, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s thinker who described BR Ambedkar’s role in framing the constitution “a myth” also has another achievement to his credit. Just two months after being appointed chairman of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, he has turned the government-funded culture institution into a centre for RSS activities in Delhi.
THE Philippines, long used to dynastic politics, has for a change elected as president a grassroots politician, Rodrigo Duterte from Mindanao. The two previous occupants of the Malacanang Presidential Palace, Gloria Macapagal and Benigno Aquino, were children of former presidents. The candidate who stood second in the elections, Mar Roxas, is also the son of a former president of the Phillipines. Rodrigo Duterte, the tough talking long serving mayor of Davao City, who will be the new president of the Philippines rose from a much humbler environment.
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) identifies India as one of the 57 countries with a critically low level of human resources available for healthcare. This would not come as a surprise given the evidence in the country of widespread shortages of skilled health workers of all kind including doctors, nurses and other health workers – in most parts of the country. The shortage of health workers and the attendant poor quality of skills in a large proportion of them is one of the biggest obstacles to the availability of quality healthcare services in India.
MAHARASHTRA Revenue and Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse, the number two in the BJP-led state government, addressed a press conference at the BJP office in Mumbai on June 4 to announce his resignation. Putting up a brave face, he said he had resigned from the state government to uphold high moral values of BJP, although the charges of corruption levelled against him were “baseless” and those pointing fingers at him had not produced any evidence.
KERALA Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called upon officials posted at the state secretariat to work sincerely in coordination with each other and focus on the needs of the people to ensure that the election mandate is enforced properly by the government.
THE 16th triennial conference of General Insurance Employees’ Association (South Zone), affiliated to All India Insurance Employee’s Association (AIIEA), was held in Mysore in Karnataka on June 6-8. In a resolution unanimously adopted at the conference, the Association demanded the government not to disinvest shares of public sector general insurance companies -- The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., United India Insurance Co. Ltd., National Insurance Co. Ltd., Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd.
NOT just the BJP, but the entire Sangh Parivar has announced its intention of preparing for the UP state assembly elections in 2017 ‘on a war footing’. A victory in UP is essential to bolster its campaign for another big win in the next Lok Sabha elections. It needs to be remembered that the Sangh Parivar prepared for the last Lok Sabha elections of 2014 ‘on a war footing’ in UP – bloody riots, attacks on poor, Muslim families in Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli districts of Western Uttar Pradesh and their forced exodus from the homes and villages to makeshift refugee camps were the resul
THE land acquisition process for Bangalore-Chennai Expressway project stands a testimony to the government’s neglect of the interests of the farmers and other stakeholders in the backdrop of globalisation and economic liberalisation policies. In three talukas of Kolar district and one taluka of Bengaluru Rural district in Karnataka, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is rushing for acquiring lands in an authoritarian way.
THE CPI(M) has decided to develop broader unity to resist violent attacks on people in West Bengal after the elections. The state committee meeting of the Party, on June 11-12 called upon the Party workers and people to stand in unison against murderous attacks. Party will also focus on issues of livelihood to build up class and mass movements.
THE Delhi Union of Journalists, in a statement issued on June 9, has congratulated the workers of Hindustan Times Ltd for yet another legal victory in their prolonged struggle against unfair dismissal by the management. A district court has told the management to “reinstate all the eligible Workmen with effect from 03.10.04 itself”.