Dalit Swabhiman Sangharsh Rally Calls for Struggles against Atrocities on Dalits

THOUSANDS of dalits and toiling masses from across the country attended the Dalit Swabhiman Sangharsh Rally at Parliament Street in New Delhi on September 16, 2016.

Central Committee Communiqué

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which met in New Delhi from September 17 to 19 has issued the following statement on September 19, 2016. JAMMU & KASHMIRThe Central Committee of the CPI(M) strongly condemned the killing of 17 Indian army personnel in a terrorist attack in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday. A separate statement was issued yesterday. The Central Committee adopted a separate resolution on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir expressing serious concern at the number of deaths, injuries, continuous disturbances for thr

Government Sponsored Land Grab

IN both the newly formed states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the state governments are on a land grab spree to take away lakhs of acres from the hapless farmers. But the efforts of the governments to grab the land are not going unchallenged.

CPI(M) Delegation Visits Mewat

A DELEGATION from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) consisting of Central Secretariat member Nilotpal Basu, Central Committee member and leader of CPI(M) group in Lok Sabha P Karunakaran and CPI(M) member of Lok Sabha Badrudzza Khan visited Dingerheri village, Mewat in Haryana on September 21. They were accompanied by former CPI(M) Haryana state secretary Inderjit Singh and Party state committee member Satbir Singh.They had gone there to meet the families of the victims of the double murder and gang-rape of two girls from a poor landless family from the minority Muslim community in th

Politics of Prohibition & Polarisation in Bihar

TOTAL prohibition declared by the Bihar government and the resultant bootlegging have occupied much of the space of daily newspapers in the state. The legislation enacted by the government to enforce the prohibition has been criticised for some of its provisions that are harsh, including the one to penalise all members of a family and the entire village if liquor is found in a family or is brewed in a village illegally.The prohibition has gained wide support among the people in general and the women folk in particular and its positive impact can be seen in the lives of daily wage earners.

Leapfrogging to Stage VI Vehicular Emission norms

THE government finally issued the long awaited gazette notification for the sharply compressed timetable for introduction of Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission norms for vehicles and other petroleum combustion engines, broadly conforming to the Euro VI emission norms. It had earlier released an almost identical draft of this policy in January 2016 and had given all stakeholders time to respond.Currently and as of 2010, Bharat State IV (BS-IV) emission norms prevail in 13 metropolitan and other major cities, while the less stringent Bharat Stage III norms prevail in the rest of the country.

No Respite in Syria

YET another ceasefire attempt has fallen through in Syria. After protracted negotiations the US secretary of state John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had announced a ceasefire agreement to come into force from September 12. It was also announced that both sides had decided that if the ceasefire is successful, the US and Russia would launch joint military operations against the Islamic State and the Al Nasra.Within three days of the ceasefire taking effect, reports of violations by the opposition forces were reported.

After Uri, What?

THE attack on the army camp in Uri by four heavily armed militants has resulted in the death of 18 soldiers of the Indian army. This vicious assault has raised the question of how India should respond. Earlier, the attack on the IAF base at Pathankot in January this year had posed a similar problem for the Modi government.The RSS and its cohorts have demanded a strong response. In Ram Madhav’s words a “whole jaw for a tooth”. The television channels are full of retired military officers and self-proclaimed strategic experts demanding that Pakistan be taught a lesson.

National Health Accounts Depicts The Crisis in the Health Sector

India continues to have one of the most privatised health systems in the world. India’s public health expenditure in terms of percent of GDP (1.15 percent) spent on healthcare places India at 12th from the bottom, in the company of countries such as Myanmar, Haiti, South Sudan, Timor-Leste and Pakistan.THE union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) supported National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) has recently published (August 2016) the National Health Accounts for 2013-14.

Minimum Wage and the Poverty Line

The criteria for determining the minimum wage have evolved in India over a long period of time. The basic guidelines set at the Indian Labour Conference have been subsequently improved upon by the Supreme Court in the early 1990s. As of now, the principles for setting the minimum wage after all these modifications stand as follows.The basic family unit for which the calculation is made is supposed to consist of four persons, a husband, wife and two children. These two children together constitute one consuming unit, so that one can say that the family has three consuming units altogether.

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