IT is more than nine months since Israel launched its genocidal war on the Palestinians in Gaza. Till now, around 39,000 people have been killed, including a large number of women and children, in the brutal bombardment and air strikes. Hospitals, schools and residential buildings – nothing has been spared by the Israeli armed forces. In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli armed forces are conducting daily raids and over 550...
IN his opus The Wealth of Nations published in 1776 Adam Smith drew a distinction between the progressive state, the stationary state and the declining state. The progressive state was one where capital accumulation would be occurring at a rate faster than the growth of population, because of which wages would be high and population growing; in a declining state by contrast the opposite happened, while in a stationary state the capital stock and the...
AFTER months of whispers and selective leaks, mainly by the US side, it is now clear that a deal has been reached by the US and India for the acquisition by the latter of a large number of Stryker wheeled infantry combat vehicle (ICV). The deal has intrigued many observers because of the long history of the Indian army’s desire to induct a modern AFV to replace its ageing Russian-made tracked BMP-II AFVs, leading to a decision by the ministry of defence...
THE BJP led NDA government has replaced the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Criminal Procedure Code 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act 1872 by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), effective from July 1, 2024 across the nation in spite of opposition from various sections of society. These triple criminal amendment Acts were enacted without discussions in the...
THE Tripura State Election Commission (SEC) issued a notification on July 11 for the upcoming three-tier panchayat elections in the state. The elections will cover 606 gram panchayats with 6,371 GP seats, 35 panchayat samities with 423 PS seats, and 8 zillas (districts) with 116 zilla parishad seats. Voting is scheduled for August 8, 2024, with vote counting set for August 12. Nomination will...
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Brinda Karat has written a letter to Jual Oram, minister for tribal affairs, government of India, on July 15, seeking his intervention to reverse the present centralised processes of recruitment in Eklavya Model Residential (EMR) schools, which she said will adversely affect tribal students. Karat's letter emphasizes the need for recruitment processes that...
THE Maharashtra state committee of the CPI(M), in a statement issued on July 12, has strongly condemned the Mahayuti government of Maharashtra for introducing the ‘Janasuraksha Bill, 2024’ in the state assembly and demands its immediate withdrawal. Trampling upon citizens' democratic rights of protesting against anti-people policies and decisions of a government, the ruling BJP-led...
THE results of France’s recent legislative elections have come as a surprise not just to the French political establishment but also to much of the world. The consensus among polling organisations, political pundits and the mainstream media was that France’s major force on the fascist far right, the Rassemblement National ((National Rally: RN) led by Marine Le Pen, would win the largest number of seats. Instead, an alliance of the Left, the New Popular Front (Nouveau Front...
FOR more than 60 years, Cuba has suffered the limitations and adversities derived from the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States. An unjust blockade, anachronistic as a policy, and designed to undermine the support of the Cuban people to the Revolution by economic asphyxiation, in order to return the country to a regime of economic colony of the US. However, Cuba has never stood idly by and has developed a capacity for creative resistance,...
THE Haryana state secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has strongly condemned union home minister Amit Shah's remarks made in Pali, Mahendergarh district on July 16. According to media reports, Shah alleged that the OBC quota of reservations would be diverted to Muslims in Haryana, similar to what was allegedly done in Karnataka by Congress. The CPI(M) described these remarks as highly inflammatory...
