ONE after another, all the election promises made by Prime Minister Modi during his whirlwind nationwide campaign, in a corporate jet, are turning out to be completely hollow – full of bluster and no substance. On earlier occasions, we had exposed the feature of this Modi government with regard to its so-called `economic miracles’, achhe din aanewale hain etc etc.

A DYFI worker has been brutally killed by RSS goons at Kumbala village in Kerala’s Kasaragod district. The incident took place around 5 pm on October 27 when 37-year-old Murali, a member of DYFI Shatipallam unit committee, was riding a motorbike, along with his friend Manjunath. The RSS goons, led by Sharat, stopped the motorcycle and stabbed him repeatedly to death. This was the second attempt on Murali’s life.Murali, a resident of Shantipallam in Kumbala, was attacked by the RSS goons near Apsara Mill area near Sithamgoli.

THE decision by President Barack Obama to order the American military back into action in West Asia following the military advances of the Islamic State (IS) forces and the beheading of three western nationals in the region, could lead to another full scale war in the region. In the third week of September, the US House of Representatives and the Senate voted to give the American president its approval for the plan to train and arm the so-called “moderate” rebel forces in Syria, without even a semblance of a debate.

THE Modi government announces its big ticket labour market reforms. Branded as Shramev Jayate, these labour reforms have the objective of pleasing both labour and capital and removing the ‘obstacles’ to economic investment and growth. But Modi is not alone in trying to please labour and capital in one stroke. Even those politically opposed to him are arguing that labour reforms are needed and that they should be suited to address the problems of labour market rigidities which have traditionally held back economic growth.

VISAKHAPATNAM, one of the most beautiful cities on the East Coast, was devastated by Cyclone Hudhud which hit Andhra Pradesh on October 12. The devastation was unprecedented. In fact, the whole northern region of Andhra Pradesh was badly affected by it. Due to development of technology, several agencies like NASA, ISRO and IMD had warned about the magnitude of the cyclone five days in advance, but the state government was not in a position to take up relief measures even two days after the cyclone hit the state.