FROM the preliminary MoU signed in eleven banks, it is clear that further dilution of government holding in public sector banks is the main intention of the government of India. It is common knowledge that any dilution of the government holding in the PSBs is detrimental to the interest of the common man and is diametrically opposite to the very aim of the nationalisation.

THE election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France has received a rapturous welcome across much of the mainstream media as well as in the boardrooms and financial markets of international capital.In the second round of the presidential poll, held on Sunday May 7, Macron trounced his opponent, Marine Le Pen of the fascist Front National, gaining 66.1 percent of the valid votes against 33.9 percent for Le Pen.  The scale of his victory has been greeted with relief, and in many quarters it is being presented as some sort of revalidation of France’s credentials as a liberal democracy commit

THOUSANDS of people marched towards Raj Bhavan in Kolkata in solidarity with the struggling people of Bhangar on May 8. The rally had to face police obstacles as huge contingent of forces were stationed. Police even picked up some of the protestors from the rally but were forced to release them later under pressure from the people.The movement against the high voltage power grid in Bhangar has eventually turned against large scale land loot in the area. Land mafia, under the leadership of TMC has practically snatched hundreds of acres of land for realty and other purposes.

THE All India Democratic Women’s Association, in a statement issued on May 5, has welcomed the Supreme Court judgment in the brutal and horrific ‘Nirbhaya’ gang-rape and murder case giving the maximum punishment allowed by the law. However, AIDWA is against the death penalty for a number of reasons including the fact that it is often arbitrarily asked for and given.

BJP president, Amit Shah, has declared that the BJP would oust the Left Front government in Tripura in the assembly elections to be held early next year. He has also gone on to claim that the Leftists would be uprooted from the state.To fulfill his desire, the BJP and the RSS have been working overtime to create conditions of violence and confrontation in the state. Just days before Amit Shah’s visit to Tripura, BJP goons launched a series of attacks on CPI(M) workers.