One Nation, One Election: Threat to Democracy and Federalism

THE Modi government and the BJP are planning another serious assault on the Constitution and the very basis of parliamentary democracy in India.The BJP has conducted 25 webinars in the last week of December 2020 to propagate the idea of “one nation, one election”. This came in the background of prime minister, Narendra Modi making one of his periodic pronouncements about the need for “one nation, one election”. The latest was at the 80th Presiding Officers’ Conference on November 26, which happened to be the Constitution Day.The BJP webinars trotted out the now well-known arguments for th

Greetings to the 8th Congress of the Worker’s Party DPRK

ON January 6, 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) conveyed its warm greetings and best wishes to the 8th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea.The past few years have been testing times. The US-led imperialist forces are continuing with their attempts to destabilise the forces of socialism throughout the world. The continued attacks on the DPRK and their reluctance to remove the economic sanctions and blockade imposed on it are all part of such attempts.

Success of Cuba’s fight against Coronavirus

ON January 1, 2021, Cuban revolution completed 62 years. The socialist revolution carried out by a group of highly motivated individuals under the leadership of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara among numerous others in this small island nation in the Caribbean Sea in 1959 has since attempted to create an egalitarian society with a high standard of living for all its citizens sans exploitation. In the last six decades, it has survived continued imperialist assaults and built strong solidarity among its citizens.

Don’t Discriminate in Compensation

ON January 6, Brinda Karat, Member, Polit Bureau of Communist Party of India (Marxist) wrote a letter to the chief minister of Delhi urging him to give compensation to the families of minor victims who were killed in the communal violence in north east Delhi.Brinda Karat said that she recently re-met the family members of two victims, both minors, who were killed in the communal violence in north east Delhi. She said: “they informed me of the discrimination in the compensation given for the killing of a minor in the government’s ‘compensation package’ scheme.

Safdar’s Martyrdom Day Observed

THE year gone by would be remembered in human history for the havoc that COVID-19 created in the lives of one and all. The epidemic that began sometime in late December soon turned into a pandemic making its presence felt in all the continents, including Antarctica. While countries like Cuba, China and Vietnam were able to successfully control the spread of the disease with timely intervention, majority of the European and Latin American countries including Brazil and above all United States of America— the so-called superpower— became its worst victims.

Pseudo-Nationalism Trumps Science in Vaccine Clearance

IT is disturbing the way the Indian government and the regulatory authorities have handled the emergency use for vaccines for Covid-19. It started with the emergency use being granted to Oxford-AstraZeneca-Serum Institute's (Oxford-SII) Covidshield vaccine, and the furore in the BJP's social media-troll army for not granting similar approval for the indigenous National Institute of Virology-ICMR-Bharat Biotech's (NIV-BB) Covaxin, framing it as an angrezi versus Indian vaccine issue.

Women Condemn Badaun Rape and Murder, Demand Immediate Arrest of Main Culprit

SIX women organisations; AIDWA, NFIW, AIPWA, PMS, AIMSS and AIAMS in a press note released on January 7, condemned the January 3 incident of gang-rape, torture and murder of an anganwadi worker by a mahant (priest)and his henchmen in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. The woman sometimes used to visit the temple presided over by the main culprit and when she did not return, her family started looking for her.

Repeal These Agri-Laws

ONCE again, the talks between the central government and representatives of the kisan organisations today (December 30) failed to resolve the main issues on which these unprecedented kisan protests are taking place. The central government refused to consider the repeal of these Agri-Laws but has apparently agreed to reconsider the Electricity (Amendment) Bill and remove kisans from the Pollution Act. Another round of talks is scheduled for January 4, 2021.The BJP central government’s continued obduracy regarding the repeal of the three Agri-Laws prolongs the deadlock in the ongoing huge p

J&K: Success of PAGD Clear Indication of what People Want

ON December 23, the CPI(M) Jammu & Kashmir unit issued a statement stating that the success of the Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) in the district development council (DDC) elections is a clear answer as to what the people of Jammu & Kashmir want.The participation of the people in large numbers in these polls is a clear indication that people of J&K want to fight for their snatched constitutional rights in a democratic manner.

Anglo-American “Rule of Law”: Coerce Justice and Pamper War-crime

EVER since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country has been on a downward slide and its people have been suffering unprecedented hardships.The never-ending trauma of war, poverty, and the disastrous state of public health and the education system continue to haunt the country which, prior to the invasion was one of the best governed States in the Arab world.Rubbing salt into the war-wounds of Iraqi people, this Christmas President Donald Trump, granted clemency to four Blackwater guards, a private military company (PMC), convicted of voluntary manslaughter that killed 17 Iraqi civilian

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