Is TRAI Reversing its Order on Free Basics in the Name of Free Data?

FREE Basics, promoted by Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, rejected by TRAI in February this year, appears to have made a comeback with TRAI's new consultations paper dated May 19 on Free Data. The paper seems to imply that the problem with Free Basics was not that Facebook would be a gatekeeper for the internet, promoting some content over others, but its tying up with only one Telecom Service Provider (Telco), namely Reliance Communications.

DUJ & Press Unity Centre Call for Joint Action in Mid July

THE Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) and the Press Unity Centre have called for a phased programme of action, this coming monsoon session of parliament to fight the menace of increasing attacks on press persons, for proper implementation of the wage board award, (even as a new one had become due) and for extension of the Working Journalists Act to the electronic media.

All-India School for DSMM Cadre Held in Chandigarh

A three-day all-India school for Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch (DSMM) activists was held in Chandigarh. 101 delegates, including five women, from 15 north, east and western states attended the first such national-level school, which started on June 30 and concluded on July 2.

Comrade Romesh Chandra is No More

COMRADE Romesh Chandra, former president of World Peace Council died in Mumbai in the afternoon of July 4, 2016.Comrade Romesh Chandra joined the freedom struggle as a student leader. Later he became the member of Communist Party. He was a member of the National Executive of the CPI. For a period, he was also the editor of New Age, central organ of CPI.Comrade Romesh Chandra all through his life was active in the peace moment.

Road Safety Bill Aims at Privatisation of Transport Sector

The All India Road Transport Workers’ Federation has issued the following statement on June 29.THE Draft Road Transport and Safety Bill 2015 aims to privatise the Core Motor Transport Sector and to hand over the entire sector to corporates. It is surprising to note that some MPs had written asking for the placing of the Bill in parliament in the forthcoming monsoon session. The Bill aims at replacement the existing Motor Vehicle Act rendering lakhs of workers jobless in the name of road safety. The Bill is anti-people and anti-worker.

Modi Meets His Waterloo at NSG

PRIME Minister Narender Modi had made extra diplomatic efforts to secure a seat for India in the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). However, despite his lobbying and intense drama, during the two-day meeting of the group members in Seoul on June 23-24, India failed to get a seat in the club of nuclear suppliers. Why did Modi meet his Waterloo at NSG in spite of his efforts to win over the American imperialist-led western capitalist countries? Where did Modi go wrong in his handling of powerful countries of the world whose support was essential for India’s entry into NSG?

Terror in Dhaka

BLOODLETTING has become an almost every day reality for us in the recent times. Violence and mayhem have blotted the landscape. Extremist violence, has been running asunder.

AIKC Calls for Massive Struggles against Attacks on Peasantry

THE All India Kisan Council (AIKC) met in Bangalore from July 1 to 3, 2016. Members from across the country discussed the agrarian scenario, condition of the peasantry and impact of intensified neo-liberal economic policies under the Narendra Modi-led BJP government.

Thinking Together

1. The north eastern region of India is surrounded by foreign countries, about 98 percent of the boundary having been bordered internationally. Thus the region appears almost detached from the mainland of the country, at the same time having no mutual contact with neighbouring countries. Inside the region, the states are separated from one another by hill tracks resulting in the own-styled growth of the states in respect of food habits, races and languages, economy, employment, culture etc. So the people of these states generally bear identities specific to the concerned states.

New Constructs of Nationalism and the Media

The following is the text of the N Ramachandran Memorial Lecture delivered by Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary in Thiruvananthapuram on June 28, 2016. The lecture was organised on the occasion of presentation of N Ramachandran Award. INATIONALISM is a concept that, with its central features of fellowship, establishing a sense of community, was the basis of the national movement – where many streams flowed, but aimed eventually to overthrow foreign imperial rule and allow a hundred flowers to bloom in the garden called India.

Search form

Peoples Democracy newsletter