The Congress Poll Budget:
Rs. 60,000 Crore Fraud on Farmers

Armed with a deceitful declaration of a Rs. 60,000 crore debt relief package for the suicide-bound farmers of India, the Congress is out to use the agrarian crisis as its biggest poll weapon in the coming general elections....Full text

The Science of Encounter Killings in the Saffron Lab

Encountered on Saffron Agenda is a documentary by Shubhradeep Chakravorty on encounter killings in Gujarat. Since the film is a close and ruthless look at the ‘science’ of encounter killings in the saffron laboratory of Gujarat, it is not surprising that has been attacked by the Sangh mobs when screened in Bhopal and Jaipur....Full text

Tension in Tibet:
Political Dialogue Only Key to Lasting Solution

In the wake of the anniversary of the 1959 Tibet movement (March 10) and ahead of the Beijing Olympics, Tibet has once again emerged as a hot spot of ethnic tension. There are reports of violence against and killing of protesting Tibetan monks by Chinese forces; and also of ethnic targeting of Han Chinese and Hui Muslims by Tibetan protestors. Chinese authorities have straightaway blamed the Dalai Lama for provoking the violent protests....Full text

Financial Panics, Then and Now 

The authors of the most widely read book on financial panics (Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises, Fifth Edition, 2005) refer to them as "hardy perennials" and document how they have repeatedly devastated large portions of modern economies and societies over the last three centuries.....Full text

Central Budget 2008-09:
Populist Election Gimmickry, But Loyal to Neoliberalism

The NDA led by BJP coined the ‘India Shining’ slogan hoping to sail through in the last general elections. The result was for anybody to see. To counter NDA’s ‘India Shining’, the UPA led by the Congress ironically took a leaf out of NDA’s book itself and rhetorically presented a model of ‘Inclusive Growth’...Full text

INS at the Beck and Call of Bush? 

The purchase of the 36-year-old USS Trenton now rechristened INS Jalashwa at $50 million (about Rs 202 crore) by the Congress-led UPA government reminds me of a line in The Diary of A Nobody by George Grossmith the Younger and Fred Thompson: “I left the room with silent dignity but caught my foot in the mat”...Full text

Children Defy Sahara Distortion

In a shocking display of corporate yellow-journalism at its worst, Sahara News Channel aired a conspiratorially planned and fabricated story accusing CPI(ML) of hiring child labour during the rally preparations....Full text

Resolutions Adopted at the Patna Rally ...Full text

“We are striving to reestablish Mumbai’s identity as a fortress of working class movement”

Comrade Uday Bhatt, senior leader of Lal Nishan Party (Leninist) visited Patna to participate in CPI(ML) rally. Comrade Pradip Jha interviewed him to discuss the issue of recent attacks against north Indians in Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra....Full text

Indian Working Class Celebrates
A Hundred Years of Its First Political Strike

British colonial rule had a twofold impact on societal development in India: (a) destroying the elements of capitalism that were naturally emerging from within the Indian variety of feudalism and (b) on the ruins of these indigenous capitalist elements, developing a distorted capitalism characterised by absolute domination of colonial capital and a new comprador class.....Full text

NCEUS Report:
And They Have Promises to Keep…
Or to Break Again?

The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector brought out a 394 page Report inspired by the CMP (Common Minimum Programme) of the UPA government which said that is was “firmly committed to ensure the welfare and well-being of all workers, particularly those in the unorganised sector who constitute 93% of our workforce”....Full text

Contemporary Working Class Issues and Struggles   

(In view of the approaching May Day 2008, we have a brief overview of some of the ongoing trends in the working class movement, and an account of some recent struggles.)

The relentless onslaught of the policies of liberalization notwithstanding, the Indian working class is showing its resilience and its determination to struggle. With increasing contractualisation and casualisation of the workforce,....Full text

Airport Workers Strike:
Need For Taking the Bull By its Horns!

Around 14000 employees of Airport Authority of India (AAI), led by the Joint Forum of Employees Unions of AAI, struck work on 11 March midnight, continued until 13 March evening protesting the proposed closure of existing airports operating in ...Full text

Immigrant Workers from India Fight Discrimination and Exploitation

February and March 2008 have seen Indian workers abroad face and fight highly exploitative work conditions, irregular and low wages, as well as fresh discriminatory legislation. Towards May Day 2008, we take a look at the issues and the struggles. ...Full text