Antrix Devas: A Bad Deal and a Botched Cancellation

THE Antrix Devas Agreement was entered into without thought and terminated equally badly. The country might pay a huge price – not only for the mistake of signing a bad contract, but also for not knowing how to get out of such a contract. The two tribunal awards show the danger of the 80 odd bilateral investment treaties that India has entered into under which we are already seeing a spate of disputes.A tribunal in Hague has now imposed a penalty on India, which press reports claim could rise up to a billion, on the Antrix Devas deal's cancellation, deeming it an expropriation.

DELHI: Authoritarian Nature of Modi Govt

THE Delhi state committee of the CPI(M), in a statement issued on July 27, condemned the targeting of MLAs belonging to the AAP by the Modi government and its police. Over the past few days, cases have been filed against AAP legislators almost on a daily basis. Some of them are in prison and are being refused bail. Even worse is the filing of a police patently false case against Swati Maliwal, chairperson of the Delhi State Women’s Commission.

Betrayal of Child Rights

THE bill passed by parliament to prohibit all forms of child labour upto the age of 14 actually does the opposite. It has legitimised child labour on a large-scale.The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill adopted by parliament, despite various objections raised by MPs, is a regressive law. While it bans the use of children upto the age of 14 for all forms of labour, it has permitted children to be employed in family-based enterprises and to take part in “home-based work” such as in fields and forests. Family is defined not just as the nuclear family but also the fathe

Turkey’s Failed Coup

THE ‘failed’ coup of July 15-16 in Turkey is now over. Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has consolidated power – becoming even more powerful than before. He has ordered the arrest not only of over six thousand military and judicial figures, whom he has blamed for the coup but also thousands of teachers and professors as well as journalists who have been in the sights of the ruling party. Rumors abound: who is responsible for the coup? Erdoğan persists with the view that the culprit is the US-based Islamic scholar Fetullah Gülen. He wants him to be extradited to Turkey.

Modi Govt Further Alienated Kashmiris: Tarigami

CPI(M) central committee member and Jammu and Kashmir MLA Md. Yusuf Tarigami was in Delhi in the beginning of the week to meet leaders of national parties and seek their intervention in bringing Kashmir back from the brink. Among others, he met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, along with CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, on July 20. The turmoil in Kashmir, which erupted following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on July 8, has claimed over 40 lives and left more than 3400 injured.

CITU All India Working Committee Calls for Intensifying Campaign on Sept 2 Strike

‘INTENSIFY the campaign for an unprecedented countrywide strike on September 2; consolidate the organisation and march forward towards the 15th conference’ were the calls given by the working committee of CITU which met in Nasik from July 14-16, 2016. The meeting was attended by members and invitees from all over the country. A K Padmanabhan, president, CITU hoisted the red flag of CITU to mark the beginning of the meeting and presided over its sessions.

Restructuring of Centre-State Financial Relations Pre-requisite for Equitable Resource Distribution: Pinarayi

Following is edited excerpt of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s speech at the 11th meeting of Inter-State Council, held in New Delhi on July 16:I am happy that the government of India has convened this meeting of the Inter-State Council, though after a long gap. It is a pity that this national forum has not been active over the years. Let me take this opportunity to strongly recommend that at least two meetings be held every year to discuss well-defined agenda, suggested by state governments and the ministries of the government of India.

Protest Dalit Atrocity in Gujarat

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on July 20, 2016.THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the attack on dalit men which took place in Una of Gir Somnath district in Gujarat. Seven dalit men were assaulted with iron roads for skinning a dead cow, as a result of which they sustained serious injuries. Four of them were paraded in the town.This brutal attack has led to widespread protests by dalits all over the state which has been met with police repression. The attack in Una has once again highlighted the vicious

Gross Travesty of Justice

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on July 15, 2016.

THE order of a local Uttar Pradesh court to file an FIR against the members of the Akhlaq family on charges of cow slaughter is a gross travesty of justice. The petition was filed before the court by those involved in the brutal murder and lynching of Akhlaq and who have been pressurising the family to withdraw the case. Shockingly, the court gave the order without even hearing the lawyer of the family members.

BJP's Dalit Conundrum: The Slipping Mask

DALIT youth in Una, Gujarat were stripped, tied and publicly flogged for skinning a dead cow on July 11. The self-styled Hindu cow protection vigilantes had not only committed this heinous crime, but shot a video and posted it 'as a warning to others'. This had sparked outrage among the people of Gujarat and dalits in particular.

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