Smart Cities and Urban Mirages

PRIME Minister Modi recently launched one of his pet programmes, namely setting up 100 “smart cities,” along with plans for upgrading 500 towns and cities (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation or AMRUT), and a pledge to provide housing for all by 2022, requiring around 20 million units by the 75th anniversary of Indian independence.

The Spectre of the Thirties

THE Reserve Bank of India, as is to be expected, has been denying that its governor Raghuram Rajan had ever suggested that the world was facing the possibility of a 1930s-type Great Depression. Members of the “global financial community” are not supposed to say such things; so even if Dr Rajan did, a denial was inevitable.The point however is not whether Rajan actually said this. The point is not even whether the world would actually slip into a 1930s-type depression.

Achche Din for Corporates and Sangh Parivar, Bure Din with a Vengeance for the Masses - (3)

In sharp contrast to the massive concessions showered on the corporate that we saw in these columns last week, is the series of policies and steps taken by the Modi regime to squeeze the people. They make an even longer list. Some of the glaring ones are as follows:SQUEEZING THE PEOPLE· A concerted drive to kill the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is on. The tone was set by Modi’s hand-picked NITI Aayog, which roundly termed this whole scheme as ‘waste’.

KERALA: On the Bye-election Results

The following is the press statement issued by the Kerala state secretariat of the CPI(M) on July 30.

Paper Leak Scam Exposed Complicity of TMC

The entrance test for the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) in West Bengal, scheduled on 28th June, was cancelled after reports that examination papers were leaked in several districts. The episode exposed another scam in anarchical education sector in the state.The report of question-paper leak was first published in Ganashakti. On the day of the scheduled examination Ganashakti carried reports of not only leak but selective sale of papers, allegedly through TMC leaders in some districts. The report was substantiated by facsimile of papers.

Central Committee’s Call

THE Central Committee elected at the 21st Congress of the Party met at AK Gopalan Bhawan, New Delhi for the first time on June 6-7, 2015 to discuss and carry forward the implementation of the main thrust of the 21st Congress.

Stop Sabotage of Malegaon Case

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on June 26, 2015.

THE revelation by the Special Public Prosecutor in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Rohini Salian that she has been pressurised by an officer of the National Investigation Agency to go soft in the case is a matter of deep concern.

Spreading Stain of Corruption

THE stain of corruption, nepotism and crony capitalism is enveloping the Modi government and the BJP state governments. Narendra Modi and the BJP had made the massive corruption under the UPA government their main plank in the Lok Sabha election campaign. Narendra Modi had promised to put an end to the loot and corruption under Congress rule. After the completion of one year of the BJP government, speaking at a rally in Mathura district, Modi claimed that he had not guaranteed acche din for those who looted the nation; for them it was bure din.

TRIPURA: CPI(M) Wins Bye-elections With Higher Percentage of Votes

IN keeping with the expectations of the people, CPI(M) retained its hold in the bye-elections to the Pratapgarh and Surma assembly segments, by a huge margin. Both these SC reserved seats had fallen vacant because of the untimely demise of the CPI(M) MLAs, Comrade Anil Sarkar and Comrade Sudhir Das. During the campaign itself, it had become clear that the CPI(M) was poised for victory. The polling on June 27 was absolutely peaceful and recorded a high voter turnout.

Adivasis Resolve to Unite and Struggle

THE central executive committee (CEC) of Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) in its meeting held on June 13-14, in New Delhi, resolved to organise struggles against the Modi government's offensive on adivasi communities. The aggressive moves to reverse or eliminate hard won rights including the Forest Rights Act, PESAA, constitutional protections under the Fifth and Sixth Schedule are reflected in the recently adopted Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Bill 2015.

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