DURING the anti-colonial struggle, many activists in India got attracted to socialism by virtue of the fact that while the capitalist world was reeling under the Great Depression and mass unemployment, the Soviet Union appeared completely untouched by it; Comrade EMS Namboodiripad was one such person and has written about it. They understood that there was something immanent to the functioning of a socialist economy that enabled it to avoid Depressions,...
FLOODING due to heavy rainfall in major urban centres, which used to be witnessed once in a while, has of late become commonplace, occurring almost annually. Citizens may have thought the situation would improve with economic growth and higher investment in urban infrastructure, but the scenario has clearly worsened. This is, of course, partly due to climate change which is known to cause extreme rainfall events, an expected outcome of climate change in large...
ON September 2, 2025, the Delhi High Court denied bail to former JNU student and activist Umar Khalid and eight others in a case related to the communal riots that took place in Delhi on February 23-26, 2020. This case is generally known as the ‘larger conspiracy case’ because it is concerned with an alleged conspiracy hatched by several activists to create a communal conflagration in the capital.
SINCE June 2025, Himachal Pradesh has been facing one of the worst natural disasters in its history. Continuous heavy rainfall has triggered devastating flash floods and massive landslides across the state, causing widespread destruction and suffering. The scale of damage is enormous. Lives have been lost, and thousands have been displaced. Livestock, homes,...
MILLIONS of people in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, and other regions are suffering unthinkable agony due to unprecedented floods – despite weather forecasts of very heavy monsoon rains issued months in advance. Nothing worthwhile was done by those responsible for the crucial duty of protecting people’s lives and livelihoods.
JUSTICE B Sudarshan Reddy is on the target of BJP after becoming the Vice Presidential candidate from India Block. He is being accused of being responsible for the Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh, because he was the one who banned the Salwa Judum sponsored by the BJP government in Chhattisgarh. In the inhumane excesses that took place in this violent movement, 650 villages were forcibly evacuated...
THE international petition on Gaza, published on September 4, and signed by more than 4,500 scientists, is unprecedented for many reasons. The signatories include some of the world’s most respected scientists and mathematicians, including fourteen Nobel laureates, five Fields Medallists, and twenty Breakthrough Prize winners. The petition states: “We are deeply distressed by the worsening humanitarian crisis...
UNDER the present regime, when a myriad socio-economic and political challenges confront the people of India, developments in the "domestic sphere" are often put on the back burner in agendas of resistance. This allows those who are in power to hijack the concept of "nari shakti" and make claims of "women-led development" even as they keep intact an entirely regressive approach to women in the "domestic sphere". The latest example of this is a statement by the...
THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) condemns the visit of Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich to India. He led an Israeli delegation to sign a bilateral investment agreement with the Indian government. Smotrich belongs to a far right racist party who is the leading advocate in the Netanyahu government for occupying the Gaza strip by forcibly displacing the Palestinian people. He is also a prime mover of proposals to annex...
CPI(M) expresses deep concern at the extraordinary situation of floods and landslides in North India. Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi are reeling under heavy rain, floods and landslides. CPI(M) condoles the loss of lives in this unprecedented calamity. Punjab has been the worst affected and all 23 districts of the state are declared flood-hit....
