Union Budget 2017-18: A Betrayal of the Peasantry

THE union budget presented by the finance minister in days of acute agrarian crisis compounded by the adverse impact of demonetisation on agriculture is a betrayal of the peasantry. The disruptive consequences of demonetisation has led to a further fall in incomes, threatened agricultural production and created uncertainty about any revival of agricultural growth.

AIDWA Calls For Campaign Against Demonetisation And Massive Observance Of International Women’s Day

THE well-attended first meeting of the AIDWA central secretariat after the Bhopal all India conference held at Chennai last month gave a call for an intensive campaign against the disastrous impact of demonetisation on women. It also called for a massive observance of International Women’s Day on March 8 around these three slogans: Work for all and equal wages for equal work is our right; Rise against the Manuwadi and regressive ideology; Immediately pass the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Political Parties Funding: Helping Big Money in Politics

THE finance minister in the union budget has admitted that there is no transparent method of funding political parties in the country. In order to rectify this he has proposed some measures “to cleanse the system of political funding in India”.

A New Successor in Tamil Nadu

THE election of VK Sasikala, the aide and confidante of the late J Jayalalithaa, as the leader of the legislative party of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in order to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu has opened a new chapter in the political game being played out in the post-Jayalalithaa period. After proposing her name for the leadership of the legislative party, O Paneerselvam, the incumbent chief minister, who had resigned, has now come out against the change.

DECREE ON LAND

(1) Landed proprietorship is abolished forthwith without any compensation.(2) The landed estates, as also all crown, monastery, and church lands, with all their livestock, implements, buildings and everything pertaining thereto, shall be placed at the disposal of the volost land committees and the uyezd Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies pending the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.(3) All damage to confiscated property, which henceforth belongs to the whole people, is proclaimed a grave crime to be punished by the revolutionary courts.

Budget 2017-18 Imposes Further Burdens on the People

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on February 1, 2016.AT a time when the common people of India are reeling under the disastrous impacts of demonetisation, the finance minister has come out with a contractionary budget which is likely to greatly exacerbate suffering of the working people. The Economic Survey presented yesterday clearly shows a deceleration in economic growth, a sharp fall in demand for goods and services, massive job losses, decline in farm incomes, and social disruption in cash-intensive sectors.

Thinking Together

THE UBI refers to a minimum level of money income that the State ensures for its citizens. Typically, the government transfers a stipulated amount of money to all its citizens to ensure that they have access to a minimum level of income. The quantity of such a money transfer is determined either by estimating the average shortfall of per capita income from a poverty line, or by estimating an amount required to live a life of basic dignity.While the idea of a UBI might appear appealing, there are a number of problems in accepting it as a policy solution to the problem of poverty.

Response to Mahajana Padayatra Reflects Failure of KCR Govt

THE Mahajana Padayatra, undertaken by the CPI(M) in Telangana with the objectives of social justice and all-round development, completed 100 days on January 24, covering 2,663 kms and touching about 1,000 villages. Led by CPI(M) state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram, the padayatra received popular support from various sections of the people and leaders of political parties and mass organisations, irrespective of parties and ideologies. It highlighted various problems of the people at the grassroots level and exposed the acts of commission and omission of the TRS government.

MAHARASHTRA: SFI State Conference calls for Intensifying Struggles

THE 16th Maharashtra state conference of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) was held from January 3-5, 2017 in Beed, in the background of various effective student struggles.These included the statewide agitation of 5,000 Industrial Training Institute (ITI) students representing 13 districts on December 30, 2014 in Mumbai; the two-day siege to the Aurangabad Commissionarate on drought-affected students’ issues on May 3-4, 2016; the two-day mega-siege on tribal students’ demands to tribal development minister Vishnu Savra’s residence at Wada in Palghar district along with the Kisan Sabh

Akali-BJP Govt Lacked Will to Resolve SYL Canal Row: Yechury

DURING every election in Punjab, the SAD-BJP combine and the Congress rake up the issue of river water-sharing to exploit the people’s sentiments to get votes, but neither of them made any concerted effort to resolve the row surrounding the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said.Addressing an election rally in Garhshanker in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab on January 28, he said river water is a natural resource and any decision on sharing of natural resources can be taken only by sitting together.

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