THE sordid happenings in Karnataka have reached a climax with the resignations of 14 MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JD(S) and two independents who were supporting the coalition. This development has come after a series of attempts by the BJP in the past one year to topple the Kumaraswamy government. The BJP was not reconciled to the fact that it could not run a government with majority support after the 2018 assembly elections, even...
ONE of the most startling aspects of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech is that it did not provide the numbers that are the basic reason for having a budget speech in the first place: the numbers relating to overall revenues and expenditure of the government, either for the previous year or for the current year. This was widely commented on, and the FM’s response was that all these numbers are available in the...
SINCE Piyush Goyal tabled the interim budget before parliament earlier this year (February 1, 2019), the Lok Sabha elections giving the Modi government an almost certain additional five years in office is not the only development. In addition to the reality of deepening agrarian distress and grim employment situation that were known even then, at least three other mutually related hard facts relevant to the finalisation of the budget for 2019-20 have...
THE union budget for 2019-20, presented by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in parliament on July 5, fails to live up to the expectations of the vast majority of the people – workers, farmers, agricultural workers, women and the disabled. The first budget of the Modi-2 government is a gift to the corporate India and foreign financial interests who will strengthen their hold on economy. Below we publish the statements issued by various organisations on...
IT is clear by now that the figures provided in the 2019-20 budget are palpably unfounded. The budget has concealed the actual receipts and expenditures for 2018-19 even though these were available, because they show huge shortfalls compared to the budget estimates for that year. And all its estimates for 2019-20 are projections based on the revised estimates for 2018-19, which are close to the budget estimates for that year, rather than the much lower actuals...
LIBERALISM is on the decline. The right-wing monster has re-emerged. The global response to the migrant crisis, and the speed at which racism and communalism is gaining legitimacy are clear symptoms of the decay of liberalism. The truth is that the dictatorship of the oligarchs is back with a vengeance, legitimising racism, communalism, censorship and the surveillance state. Everything that the liberals found wrong with communism has come back to haunt them...
KERALA has once again topped in the latest health ranking NITI Aayog report, "Healthy States, Progressive India". The report ranks states and union territories on their year-on-year incremental change as well as overall performance with respect to 23 health indicators such as neonatal mortality rate, ‘under five’ mortality rate, percentage of low birth weight infants, sex ratio at birth etc., NITI Aayog had first come out with its state-wise health rankings in...
THIS period has been a very challenging time for all the progressive, democratic and secular forces in the country. The results of the 17th Lok Sabha elections have been a great setback. The BJP aroused nationalist jingoism, zeroing in on Pulwama and Balakot, and shifted the poll narrative from the burning issues of the people. The consolidation of the Hindutva vote bank through communally charged campaigns and violent attacks strengthened communal polarisation and...
“KERALA healthiest state, Bihar worst’, this is how TOI has reported the NITI Aayog’s latest health index released on of June 25. The report covers the period of 2015 to 2016 and 2017 to 2018. According to the news’ the report prepared by the NITI Aayog in collaboration with the health ministry and the technical assistance from the World Bank, it has studied the comparative performances of different categories of states, larger, smaller and...
FOUR organisations, (Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch, Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Mahasabha, Campaign for Survival and Dignity and Bharat Jan Andolan) with lakhs of members from adivasi communities have written a letter to Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, seeking his intervention to stop the attacks on tribals and forest dwellers by the central government. Below we reproduce the letter:
