Withdraw UGC Draft Regulations

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on January 8THE Draft University Grants Commission Regulations 2025 contains a provision, which is a direct assault on the rights of states on the question of selecting vice chancellors in state-run universities. The guideline gives the governor-cum-chancellor the power to appoint the three-member selection committee in which the chancellor’s nominee will also be the chairperson. This is happening in the background of governors acting arbitrarily in appointing vice chancellors in some opposition-ruled states.

Kerala Power Employees Win Landmark Victory after United Struggle

THE Electricity Employees’ Federation of India (EEFI), in a statement issued on January 3, has congratulated its Kerala constituents for achieving a significant victory following a prolonged and united struggle.

JANAM Observes Safdar Hashmi Shahadat Divas

‘Bol Majure Halla BolHalla Bol bhai, halla bol…’ LIKE every year, this song of workers’ struggle echoed across Jhandapur’s Dr Ambedkar Park on the chilly winter morning of January 1, 2025. A large number of people – locals, residents of Sahibabad Site IV – gathered in the park to remember and salute Comrade Safdar Hashmi and Rambahadur on the occasion of the 36th Safdar Hashmi Shahadat Divas.

“GDP-NATIONALISM”

LIBERAL opinion is invariably opposed to “nationalism”. It treats “nationalism” as a homogeneous term that necessarily entails a non-friendly, non-accommodative and rivalrous attitude towards other countries. This view however is completely erroneous; anti-colonial third world nationalism is entirely different from the nationalism that developed in Europe in the seventeenth century following the Westphalian Peace Treaties.

Journalist Unions Denounce Journalist’s Murder, Demand Justice

THE year 2025 has begun on an ominous note, with the shocking murder of a journalist.The National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ), the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), the Andhra Pradesh Working Journalists Federation(APWJF) and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ Delhi unit) send out their first press release of the year on January 4, with grief and shock at the killing of Bastar journalist Mukesh Chandrakar on January 1, 2025.

Karnataka: CPI(M) State Conference Calls for Building a Left and Democratic Alternative

THE 24th Karnataka State Conference of the CPI(M) was held from December 29-31, 2024, with the slogan “Towards Harmonious, Integral, and Prosperous Karnataka” at the Star Convention Hall, Tumkur. The conference issued a clarion call to build a Left and democratic alternative to challenge the bipolar polity between the Congress and the NDA, into which Karnataka has slipped, with the JD(S) joining the BJP-led NDA.On the morning of December 29, a big, colourful procession was held from Freedom Square to Town Hall.

Changing Patterns of Consumption Expenditure

THE National Statistical Office has recently released the fact sheet of Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24. It is the second survey report of the annual series that begun in 2022-23 after a long gap since the 68th Round Consumption Expenditure Survey released by the government in 2011-12. The government seems to be comfortable to release this report this time as the Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) has increased from Rs 3,773 in 2022-23 to Rs 4,122 in 2023-24 in rural India and from Rs 6,459 to Rs 6,996 in urban India respectively.

All India People’s Science Congress

THE 18th All India People's Science Congress (AIPSC) which is the bi-annual meeting of the All India People's Science Network (AIPSN) was held from December 27-30, 2024, at Kolkata in the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences. Activists and intellectuals, along with those in academia, together deliberated on the issues at the intersection of science, technology, and society. More than 500 delegates from 43 member organisations which are part of AIPSN attended, representing states and union territories spread across the country.

Uttar Pradesh State Conference of CPI(M)

THE 24th Uttar Pradesh state conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held from December 29-31, 2024 at Bulandshahr with the resolve to build a revolutionary communist party with a strong mass base in Uttar Pradesh.The comrades of Bulandshahr had made elaborate preparations for the conference; the entire city was decorated with red flags and four-month long campaign for the conference and rally was conducted in 300 villages.The venue of the conference was named after our beloved leader Comrade Sitaram Yechury, the meeting stage was named after former MLA Comrade Dinanath Sin

UGC Rules: Assault on State Universities

THE New Year 2025 started with another assault on the education system. The Modi government, through the UGC, announced new draft regulations titled, ‘University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education)’. This is yet another attempt by the central government to assume control over all the higher education institutions in the country.According to the UGC, there are 56 central universities and 481 state universities.

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