THROUGH a statement issued from New Delhi on June 23, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) condemned the latest decision of the Narendra Modi led government to appease the sugar lobby by doling out further benefits to them without any concrete action to ensure that the lobby clears the arrears due to the cane farmers which, by the government’s own admission, is as high as 110 billion rupees or 1.84 billion US dollars.

SINCE being installed in government, the BJP’s ministers have announced a slew of measures to usher in “better days”. True to this pattern, the new government’s health minister – Dr Harsh Vardhan – has articulated a number of priorities in the health sector. None of them come as a surprise as they are true to the BJP’s core ideology of further promoting the neo-liberal agenda of the previous UPA government.

THE budget season is upon us, and soon there will be pundits appearing on television channels to tell the government what it should do. And the typical advice will be: restrict or wind up the “populist” schemes of the UPA; use the funds generated by such restrictions to provide “incentives” to capitalists to stimulate growth, so that the Indian economy, which has been woefully stagnant of late, experiences a revival. The moral of their story in short would be: an income redistribution from the poor to the rich is good for growth. Is it in fact the case?

THIRTY Nine years ago, on this very day in 1975, as we go to press today, “Internal Emergency’ was declared by the then Congress party government at the centre headed by late Indira Gandhi. As the sun rose that day, thousands of people were arrested and jailed, thus, heralding the darkest chapter in the history of democracy in independent India. It was only after a relentless struggle by the people of our country that this emergency regime was defeated in an election that Ms Gandhi was forced to call in early 1977.

THE Left Front’s 72 hour sit-in demonstration started on June 29 afternoon in Kolkata protesting against the ruthless attack on democratic rights in the state. Thousands gathered in the initial rally braving rains. The sit-in continued uninterrupted through the night with leaders of Left Front including Biman Basu staying on the road.