THIS year’s Nobel Prize in economics (the Riksbank Prize to be more precise) has been awarded to three US-based economists for their research into what promotes or hinders the growth of wealth among nations; and they assign a crucial role to institutions, arguing that western institutions like electoral democracy are conducive to growth. Where colonialism led to the promotion of what they call “inclusive institutions” such as in settler colonies, growth...
THIS year is Comrade Lenin's death centenary year. For those who are socialists and communists, the Soviet Union was the hope of founding a new society in which the working people, and not the capitalist or the feudal classes, would own the means of production. For many, the Soviet Union gave hope for a different social order and the possibility of national liberation from the clutches of the colonial rulers. The Bolshevik...
THE union government has published the draft Sugar (Control) Order, 2024, citing technological advancements in the production process and other changes in the industry to replace the Sugar (Control) Order, 1966. Criticising the move, the All-India Sugarcane Farmers Federation (AISFF) has accused the union government of deleting even the few provisions that extended some benefits to sugarcane...
THE Communist Party of India (Marxist) staged a protest at the Adani Missiles and Defense Systems building in Pahadi Sharif, Hyderabad on October 21, condemning the supply of Hermes 900 drones by Adani Aerospace to Israel. The protest, organised by the Ranga Reddy district committee, demanded an immediate halt to these exports, calling on the Indian government to end its support...
THE National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ) and Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), in a statement issued on October 17, have expressed grave concern at the notice by the Press Council of India to independent and critical magazine ‘The Caravan’ regarding the story ‘screams from the army post’. It has also noted the increasing attacks on journalists countrywide amidst reports of verbal targeting of journalists in Uttar Pradesh and...
IN a major victory for the people of Puducherry, the state government has finally agreed to reopen all ration shops across the union territory after a prolonged struggle led by the CPI(M) against the closure of these essential outlets. The decision comes after years of protests, with the state government announcing on October 21 that the shops will be operational before Diwali,...
THE Uttar Pradesh state committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) organised a state-level condolence meeting for Comrade Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of CPI(M) on October 6, 2024, at the CPI(M) state office in Lucknow. Apart from CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) and the Forward Bloc, prominent leaders of Indian National Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Loktantrik Janata Dal also paid tributes to Comrade Sitaram Yechury....
SINCE April this year, price of crude oil that India imports has fallen from 89.44 dollars per barrel to 73.59 dollars per barrel. That is a drop of nearly 18 per cent. It is this oil which is refined and sold in India as petrol, diesel and various other petro-based products. Since 2010, the government has supposedly withdrawn from fixing the retail price of petrol (diesel since 2014) claiming that prices will be determined by the market. That...
THE National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), in a statement issued on October 23, has lodged its strong protest against the amendments made to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, making the process of issuance of disability certificates more stringent and cumbersome. These set of amendments, are regressive in nature and will only add to the already existing hurdles for genuine persons with disabilities to get...
THE Bretton Woods institutions – the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – have completed 80 years of existence and operations. As people of the global south, who continue to bear the brunt of the impacts of colonial expansion, resource extraction, wealth concentration, climate change and deepening inequality, we demand that these...
