EVERY nation has an anthem, but India is unique in having a song that competes for prestige. The two decisions -- on adopting Rabindranath Tagore’s Jana Gana Mana as national anthem and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Vande Mataram as national song – were made the same day in the Constituent Assembly. There was no discussion, nor any thought given to the role either would play in public life.Rules were written in later years, stipulating how and when the national anthem would be played, and the public deference that was its due. No equivalent rules exist for the “national song”.
“IT cannot be business as usual,” said M A Baby while kick-starting a discussion among publishers associated with the Party. “The Party Congress has identified neo-fascism as a serious threat. We cannot take this threat lightly. We have to confront it frontally.” This was part of a one-day meeting held in Chennai on October 30, 2025. It was attended by 19 representatives of 11 publishing houses from different parts of India.
THE global economy today is driven not just by commodities or capital but by data. While often termed the “oil of the 21st century”, this analogy is flawed. Oil is finite and consumed upon use. Data, by contrast, is a fertile soil that grows and generates new value with every application.
The government sponsored ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh’ (Tribal Pride Year) ends on November 15, 2025, which is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Birsa Munda, the great tribal leader who led an Adivasi revolt against the landlords and British at the end of the 19th century, and died in jail. The Sangh Parivar, and the BJP-led governments at the Centre and states, have been active in publicising Birsa Munda and other tribal leaders as part of their long-standing strategy of winning over the Adivasi communities of India.
In the run up to the final moments of reckoning for the New York City mayoral elections, as it was becoming apparent that Zohran Mamdani would win, no one less than Donald Trump himself confirmed what was going to happen in his own inimitable fashion. A rank outsider in the political process in the United States, Mamdani was leading all the other candidates hands down.
Donald Trump’s US presidency reveals the underlying class dynamics, contradictions, and the intensification of neoliberal policies cloaked under nationalist rhetoric encapsulated in the ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) slogan.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on November 11, 2025THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) strongly condemns the dastardly bomb attack in the heart of the national capital, Delhi. It expresses its heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones in the blast.It is deeply disturbing to learn from reports that large quantities of explosives and firearms have been discovered in areas around Delhi, which are now being linked to the attack. This indicates the involvement of an organised network.
ON November 1, 2025, tens of thousands of activists from parties of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA – INDIA Bloc), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Left parties of Maharashtra participated with great fervour in a massive joint public procession and public meeting to protest against the callous attitude of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the State Election Commission (SEC) in rectifying the electoral rolls before holding elections in the state for various local self-government bodies.Participants coming from all parts of Maharashtra, but mainly from Mumbai, covered a distance of ha
STUDENT union elections have been virtually suspended across the country. In many states elections have been banned for several years. Elections take place in a handful of central universities and among them Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) assumes significance. JNU elections are fought on ideological lines where student outfits led by muscle and money power, especially the RSS led Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), are rejected by the students.
THE second provincial conference of Naujawan Bharat Sabha was held in Lahore from February 22 to 24, in 1929. Sohan Singh was elected its president. S R Bakshi has mentioned that Naujawan Bharat Sabha had held Bhagat Singh Remembrance Day in July 1930 in Amritsar, for which action was taken against Babu Singh, Bishan Singh, Kuldeep Saigal and Sunder Das by the British government. NBS held many protest meetings against the British government on the martyrdom of Jatin Das in 1929 as well. During the hunger strike by Lahore Conspiracy Case prisoners, NBS had protested throughout.