Editorial

Unadulterated Authoritarian Rule

THE last few days have thrown up some disturbing portents of authoritarianism. It coincided, ironically, with the prime minister speaking at the Ramnath Goenka awards function in Delhi wherein he declared that every generation should reflect on the emergency so that no political leader in future can think of committing the sin of emergency. 

October Revolution: Harbinger of a New World

NOVEMBER 7 this year marks the beginning of the centenary of the October Revolution in Russia (by the old Russian calendar, it took place on October 25). October 1917 marked a new epoch in human history – the transition from capitalism to socialism.  This was the first revolution in the world made by the working people and led by the working class.  All earlier revolutions before this in the 18th and 19th centuries were bourgeois revolutions to overthrow the feudal monarchies.  The 1789 French Revolution being the classic bourgeois democratic revolution. 

Jobless in Modi Raj

INDIA is facing a deepening crisis on the employment front.  According to a new Employment-Unemployment (EU) Survey conducted by the Labour Bureau, unemployment in India is running at a five year high of 5 percent of the workforce who are fifteen years and above.  Over a third of the people at work are employed for less than a year. Based on the Census 2011 figures, 5 percent of those above fifteen years would work out to 2.3 crore persons;  further, 35 percent underemployed would mean nearly 16 crore persons.

Oppose this Authoritarian Onslaught

WHAT has been happening in the National Capital Territory of Delhi is truly scandalous. Ever since the AAP government was formed after the February 2015 assembly election, there has been brazen and calculated attack by the central government to hamper the elected state government. The naked use of central power through the Lt. Governor and the Delhi police (which is under central jurisdiction) has more or less sidelined the state government and the elected legislature.

End Strident Jingoism, Reduce Tensions

A WEEK after the official announcement about the surgical strikes conducted across the Line of Control, there is much which is unclear about this operation and what it has achieved.  Through briefings to the media, it was put out that seven terrorist launch pads were targeted by two groups of special forces. It was also claimed that 38 terrorists and their assistants were killed.

No Respite in Syria

YET another ceasefire attempt has fallen through in Syria. After protracted negotiations the US secretary of state John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had announced a ceasefire agreement to come into force from September 12. It was also announced that both sides had decided that if the ceasefire is successful, the US and Russia would launch joint military operations against the Islamic State and the Al Nasra.

After Uri, What?

THE attack on the army camp in Uri by four heavily armed militants has resulted in the death of 18 soldiers of the Indian army. This vicious assault has raised the question of how India should respond. Earlier, the attack on the IAF base at Pathankot in January this year had posed a similar problem for the Modi government.

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