Corruption Scandal: Malaysian PM Given “Clean Chit”

MALAYSIA'S attorney general, Mohamed Apandi, a handpicked appointee of the prime minister, Najib Razak, surprised few Malaysians when he announced in the last week of January that he is closing the corruption inquiry into the transfer of hundreds of million dollars into the personal bank accounts of his boss. Apandi solemnly announced in the last week of January that “no laws were broken” by the prime minister and that he had ordered the country's anti-corruption bureau to close the investigations into the sources of the funds that the Malaysian prime minister received.

“Assault on Thought”: Public Symposium

On March 20th, 2016 SAHMAT organized a Public Symposiumthemed “The Assault on Thought” at the Constitution Club, Vitthalbhai Patel House in New Delhi.TheSymposium was organized close on the heels of the systematic attacks on public universities across the country and the brazen acts of intimidation that the government (and its lackeys) is engaged in over the past few months. Specifically, the recent turn of events in Hyderabad Central University and Jawaharlal Nehru University provided the backdrop to the conversations that was being organized.

The Week in Parliament

THERE was uproar in Rajya Sabha a day after a sting video purportedly showed 11 Trinamool Congress leaders accepting money from a fictitious firm. CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury appealed to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to assure that the sting against the TMC leaders will be probed and a House committee will be set up to enquire into it. Lok Sabha witnessed a heated exchange of words between TMC members and other opposition MPs. Raising the matter, Md. Salim said the dignity of the House should be protected as some members were found to be indulging in unethical conduct.

CPI(M) Submits Memorandum to CEC on Bengal Polls

A two member delegation of the CPI(M) consisting of Sitaram Yechury, general secretary and Nilotpal Basu, central secretariat member met the Chief Election Commissioner on March 18 to draw attention of the Commission to some serious concerns with regard to the forthcoming elections to the West Bengal legislative assembly. The full text of the memorandum submitted to the Commission is reproduced below.

ANDHRA PRADESH: Left Parties Hold Chalo Assembly

THE ‘Chalo Assembly’ call given by the Left parties of Andhra Pradesh state on March 15 demanding immediate solution to the issues of Rayalaseema districts evoked magnificent response. Fearing that this programme is going to be a huge success, the state government got arrested activists from Rayalaseema districts enroute to Hyderabad at various points.

CPI(M) Condemns Pseudo-Patriotic Action By Maharashtra State Assembly

THE CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee has strongly condemned the BJP, Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP members of the Maharashtra assembly for their acts of intimidation against Waris Pathan, MLA, in the assembly and the illegal resolution to suspend him from the assembly for the current session. Although the CPI(M) is totally opposed to the communal ideology and politics of Waris Pathan's party (AIMIM) we are of the opinion that the action of suspension against Waris Pathan in the assembly had no justification.

CITU Holds Massive Rally of Unorganised Sector Workers in Mumbai

MORE than 16,000 workers from four sectors – construction, powerloom, beedi and domestic work – poured into Azad Maidan to attend the statewide rally of unorganised sector workers called by CITU on March 16. The always precarious condition of these unorganised sector workers has deteriorated even further under the policies of the BJP led governments at the centre and in the state.

Ravaging Yamuna Flood Plains: Art of Uncaring, Egoism and Cronyism

INDIA and the whole world has just witnessed the most horrible display of utter lack of concern for the environment by the Art of Living (AoL) foundation led by new-age guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar which organised a massive international cultural festival slap bang on the Yamuna floodplains in Delhi to commemorate 35 years of its functioning. The AOL organisers and its supporters at the highest echelons of the central government brazened out the storm of criticism by environmental groups, scientists, judicial bodies, large sections of the media and the general public.

The Phenomenon of Negative Interest Rates

ONE is witnessing the emergence of a strange and unprecedented phenomenon in the advanced capitalist world, namely the charging of negative interest rates. The European Central Bank reduced its deposit rate to -0.1 percent in June 2014, and since then it has reduced this rate further, to-0.2 percent in September 2014, -0.3 percent in December 2015, and to -0.4 percent in March 2016. And apart from the ECB, four other national central banks, those of Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, and Sweden, have also reduced interest rates on certain parts of their deposits to negative levels.

CPI(M) Files Counter Affidavit on Political parties under RTI

Below we reproduce the counter affidavit filed by the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, in the Supreme Court on the petition seeking to bring the political parties under the Right to Information Act. 1. That the respondent, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), holds view that the statement of accounts and the details of finances of the political parties should be accessible to public.

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