The Week in Parliament

THE Budget Session of Parliament began on February 23 with President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to a joint session of both the Houses. After the President's address, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha met and made obituary references. Both the Houses were adjourned after laying the President's address on the table of the respective House.

CPI(M) Submits Memo to Chief Election Commissioner on Bengal Polls

A two member delegation of the CPI(M) consisting of general secretary Sitaram Yechury and central secretariat member Nilotpal Basu met the chief election commissioner on March 2, to draw attention of the commission to some serious concerns with regard to the forthcoming elections to the West Bengal legislative assembly.

‘This is An Attack on India’s Secular, Democratic Constitution’

CPI(M) leader in Rajya Sabha Sitaram Yechury initiated the discussion on the situation arising in central institutions of higher education with specific reference to Jawaharlal Nehru University and University of Hyderabad. Below we publish the edited excerpts of his speech in the upper house of parliament on February 25.I AM initiating this discussion with a deep sense of anguish, anger and anxiety of what is going to happen to our country.

UNION BUDGET 2016-17

Rich in Rhetoric; Poor in Substance, says CITU Union Budget 2016–17 presented by the union finance minister Arun Jaitley is nothing but a grand exercise in rhetoric, totally devoid of anything substantial that provides relief to the common people and workers. The finance minister sought to camouflage his government’s drive to provide further benefits to the corporate sector by resorting to high sounding words.

Development for Divide and Disrupt

NARENDRA Modi was nominated by Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Supremo, as prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 and Modi launched his election campaign on the political platform of his Gujarat model of Development and during every election meeting, he promised his audience that vote for BJP under the leadership of Modi will lead to economic growth for entire India.

AP: Bus Yatra by Left Parties Seeking Development Of Rayalaseema Districts

THE Left parties, CPI(M) and CPI, have jointly embarked on a 14 day-long ‘Rayalaseema Bus Yatra’ to focus on the issues of backward region and with a demand that a comprehensive package of Rs1,000 crore be announced for the development of Rayalaseema districts.The ‘Rayalaseema Bus Yatra’ was formally flagged off from Tirupati on February 20 by Prakash Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) and CPI National Secretariat member K Narayana .The yatra continues up to March 5, during which period the Left party leaders plan to visit the nook and corner of the region.Addressing a public meeting

Are Software Patents Finally Dead?

LAST month, the Indian Patents Office released the revised Guidelines for Computer Related Invention (CRI Guidelines), which has finally aligned the Patents Office fully with the Indian Patents Act. This is the third time that software patents have been beaten back in India: the first with the Amendments to the Patents Act in 2005, the next, smuggling it in through the Patents Manual issued by the Patents Office, and this time, through the original CRI Guideline issued in August last year.

Budget 2016-17: Hype Is All

THE union budget for the year 2016-17 presented to parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 29, has been termed “pro-poor” and “pro-farmer” by the media. Nothing else could be further from the truth.

Protest against Murthal Mass Rape Case

THE Delhi units of the AIDWA, SFI and DYFI held a demonstration at Haryana Bhawan, New Delhi on February 29 to express their outrage at the mass rape of women in Murthal and the attempts of the Haryana state government to cover up this heinous crime.

Thinking Together

Q. Why is the sedition law objectionable and why is the Party opposed to it when there are secessionist forces active in the country? Rajkumar, ChandigarhTHE sedition clause in the Indian Penal Code is contained in Section 124A. This clause was introduced by the British colonial government in the IPC to suppress people who were opposed to British rule. Sedition means inciting people against the authority of the State or the monarch. This notorious clause was used rampantly by the British against freedom fighters.

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