THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions, in a statement issued on April 25, has condemned the unilateral decision of the finance ministry to reduce the interest rate on EPF to 8.7 percent from the unanimous recommendation of the tripartite Central Board of Trustees of the EPFO. This was revealed from the reply to the unstarred question no 96 dated April 25, 2016 in Lok Sabha. The CBT on February 16 had decided the rate as 8.8 percent. This decision of 8.8 percent was an interim one and some increase was expected when final decision was to be taken, as funds are available with the EPFO for this.

THE Central Trade Unions, in a statement issued on April 26, have strongly denounced the unilateral reduction in interest rate on Employees Provident Fund from 8.8 percent to 8.7 percent, ignoring the unanimous decision of the tripartite Central Board of Trustees of EPFO. On February 16, 2016, the CBT of EPFO, in its meeting chaired by union labour minister unanimously decided the interest rate on EPF at 8.8 percent as an interim measure with an indication of increasing it further in view of availability of funds generated by the EPF.

FOR the first time in Tamilnadu politics, a big experiment engineered by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is gaining momentum – that is the grand alliance of Peoples’ Welfare Front (PWF) and DMDK of opposition leader and actor Vijayakanth and former union minister GK Vasan’s Tamil Manila Congress (TMC).Executing the call of the 21st Congress of the CPI(M), the Tamilnadu state committee had decided to move towards ousting the ruling AIADMK and keeping the corrupt DMK and the Congress out as well as  fighting the communal BJP and casteist PMK.This led to the successful formation of Makk

SINCE the beginning of the year, Brazil has been lurching from crisis to crisis with the elected government now under the threat of being overthrown by a cabal of right wing politicians, businessmen and judges, acting in an extra-constitutional way. The current political crisis has its roots in the economic downturn the country has been facing since the re-election of President Dilma Rousseff for a successive second five year in office. Her victory coincided with the collapse of the commodity boom.

THE abject failure of the authorities in finding a planned solution to the massive and aggravating problems of Mumbai and its citizens was highlighted in a programme to discuss the Draft Development Plan for Mumbai for 2015-2034. The programme was organised on February 7 by the School of Social Sciences, in collaboration with the University of Mumbai’s Department of Civics and Politics. The School of Social Sciences, earlier known as Indian School of Social Sciences, Mumbai, was reconstituted and registered recently.