Two years after Prime Minster Narendra Modi took over, India's foreign policy has significantly changed its contours. Without taking parliament and Indian public opinion into confidence, the Modi government has gone ahead and virtually changed the country's traditional non-aligned status. The pro-western tilt that had started during the earlier NDA and UPA regimes has become even more pronounced in the last two years, despite India being a member of groupings like BRICS and IBSA. So much so that the Obama administration now wants India to be given the exalted status of a non-NATO ally.

THE CPI(M) had conducted a survey in several areas of Delhi during the month of June 2016. This survey brought to fore issues which were taken to the notice of the chief minister at numerous occasions in the recent past. The major issues and the Party's demands were again brought to the notice of the chief minister in a memorandum submitted to him on July 14. The main issues are discussed below. Unrelenting price rise, particularly in the prices of food grains and vegetables continues to be the biggest problem for the working class and vulnerable sections.

NOW that enough time has passed with Britain voting to leave the European Union (EU) without any major catastrophe occurring (frankly, should we even be surprised that a former imperial power still thinks that squabbles between its cabinet members and parliamentary backbenchers would lead to the end of the world, ‘as we know it’?), it may be a good time to think about what ‘Brexit’ means for political action, especially on the Left. The result of the British referendum should have hardly been surprising.

THE All India federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) has congratulated the anganwadi workers and helpers all over the country for the magnificent success of the observance of “Black Day” on July 11, 2016.In a press statement issued on July 11, AIFWAH said that as per the reports received so far, more than six lakh anganwadi workers from 24 states – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakh

THE Supreme Court, in a salutary judgement, has declared that the armed forces cannot act with impunity in the disturbed areas where it operates under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). The court has held that there cannot be “absolute immunity” from trial by a criminal court if any offence is committed by an army soldier. The court has ordered that all allegations of extra-judicial killings in Manipur should be probed.