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Editorial |
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Combat Corruption, Protect Land, Defend Democracy
In a shameful assault on democracy, the very next day after Independence Day, the Congress-UPA Government launched an offensive on citizens’ freedom, and arrested anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and others. Subsequently, a massive countrywide upsurge against this arrest and crackdown on democratic protest forced the Government not only to release Hazare, but also to give him permission to hold his fast at Ramlila Grounds. People have shown that they have the will to resist repression and defend democracy, and in less than 24 hours, their determination forced a corrupt and repressive Congress-UPA Government to beat a retreat....Full text
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Commentary |
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Questions of Economic Policies and Democracy that Confront the Anti-Corruption Struggle
Sandeep Singh
[This piece, which appeared in the Financial World on 9 August, has been reproduced here, somewhat modified for Liberation readers.]
There is widespread outrage in society against corruption – and most of all against the impunity enjoyed by the corrupt. This is why the demand for a genuine and effective Lokpal institution has touched a chord. We certainly need a Lokpal to investigate corruption and ensure punishment for the corrupt. But a Lokpal alone is not enough. We are at a juncture when it is crucial that we identify and address the roots of corruption....Full text
Karnataka: Politics of Money, Mining and Land
V Shankar
It is only a beginning and not an end. The plight of BJP in Karnataka is not over with the resignation of Yeddy and with the election of a new chief minister, it has only assumed a new dimension of a rather complex nature. Factional infighting has undergone a process of realignment. Money power and the greed for political power have once again assumed its decisive role in defining power equations inside the party. BJP has emerged as a party of scamsters and opportunists to the core....Full text
Victory for AISA’s three year-long struggle:
SC Verdict Stops Sabotage of OBC Reservation
An extremely significant Supreme Court verdict of 18 August finally clarified that 10% relaxation for OBC admissions would be calculated from a ‘minimum eligibility or qualifying mark’ and not from the mark obtained by the last general category candidate to get admission. It thus put an end to the ploy used by universities all over India to keep OBC students from availing seats reserved for them....Full text
Modi Government Targets Whistleblowers
IPS officers who have given evidence to investigative agencies, exposing the Gujarat Government and state machinery’s role in the 2002 genocide of Muslim minorities and in several fake encounters, are being victimized by the Modi regime.
Earlier, IPS Sanjiv Bhatt, a senior Intelligence officer in the state, had told the Supreme Court that the SIT appointed to investigate the communal violence, ignoring his offer to provide evidence, has instead leaked information about his testimony to the Government (Liberation June 2011). Bhatt’s affidavit in the Supreme Court has stated that he attended a meeting at Modi’s home, in which the CM had instructed the police and administration to “let Hindus vent their anger” against the Godhra incident – a clear signal to allow a free hand to communal violence. Bhatt was suspended on August 8 with immediate effect on the grounds that his conduct was unbecoming of an IPS officer, citing various flimsy charges....Full text
Rising Saffron Offensive in Bihar
Dhirendra Jha
In Bihar, three incidents of killing of Muslim minorities by police or security forces have taken place in a space of months.
The Forbesganj (Bhajanpura) firing in Araria district, on poor villagers protesting land grab, which took four lives including a woman and a child, is fresh in everyone’s mind. In horrific video footage, a policeman was seen viciously stomping on an injured man till he died. That incident undoubtedly reeked of communal hatred. In spite of this, the SP and SDO are yet to face disciplinary action....Full text
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Policy Watch |
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Scrap LARR Bill 2011 – Protect Agricultural Land By All Means
Dipankar Bhattacharya
Jairam Ramesh, the UPA government’s Minister of Rural Development, has come up with a draft Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill that will replace the notorious Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The draft bill clearly seeks to legalise and intensify the ongoing corporate land-grab campaign in the country even as it talks about addressing “the concerns of farmers and those whose livelihoods are dependent on the land being acquired”....Full text
UPA’s Food Security Bill : Recipe for Dismantling PDS and Procurement
The draft National Food Security Bill 2011 that has finally been approved by the empowered Group of Ministers contains several dangerous provisions that point towards a tendency to curtail and dismantle the PDS system itself.
It directs Central, state and local governments to strive to “introduce scheme of cash transfer in lieu of entitlements.” And it also provides for a “food security allowance” to be given “in case of failure to supply the entitled persons,” which is nothing but a license to replace food rations with a cash “allowance.” ...Full text
Government’s Lokpal Bill: A Farce
Existing investigative agencies such as the CBI and CVC in India are ineffective because in many cases they are subservient to the very same people whom they are expected to investigate. That is why they have been so susceptible to political manipulation and so few cases of scams involving the powerful have ever been punished. The instance of appointment of CVC PJ Thomas showed how the selection process allows the Government to ensure that pliant officials are appointed. The Government’s draft Lokpal Bill will change none of this. The Lokpal members will be selected by a committee in which the majority of representatives are from the Government....Full text
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Feature |
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Corruption and Corporate Loot – Quit India!
Student Youth Barricade at Parliament and Nationwide Jail Bharo
On 9 August, the very day that students and youth from all over the country were pouring into Delhi to be at the Barricades at Parliament against corruption, the papers quoted Delhi Police officials saying that the protest would be allowed only till 6 pm, and no group could be allowed to hold a continuous sit-in for 100 hours....Full text
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Photo Feature |
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Photos of the 100 hour Barricade against Corruption at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. Photos of Campaign against Corruption from All over India....Full
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Article |
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Legacy of Rabindranath :
Discard the Dead, Uphold the Living
Arindam Sen
[Continued]
IV
In this article we have so far perforce left untouched what is obviously most important about Rabindranath – the way he revolutionised art and literature in Bengal and thereby contributed to the development of Indian culture – and his other social activities. Our purpose was to use the available space for an assessment of the political Rabindranath. But let us, if only to get a sense of perspective in this concluding part, take a break here for a brief glance at some of those aspects and then come back to the main thread of our investigation.....Full text
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Updates |
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Release Comrade Afroz Alam, Withdraw ‘Gangster Act’ and other false cases
In the police-mafia regime of Mayawati-ruled UP, ‘Gangster Act’ and custodial torture is the reward for struggling for the landless poor.
On the face of it, Mayawati’s government appears to be at loggerheads with the Congress in UP. But when it comes to the nexus with the land mafia in Pilibhit, the UP police and local Congress leaders have united to falsely frame and torture a young CPI(ML) activist....Full text
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International |
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US Credit Rating Goes Down :
Great Recession Returning With a Vengeance?
Arindam Sen
As expected, the war of nerves – some see it as shadow-boxing – has ended at the 11th hour, with the US House of Representatives passing a Bill to increase the country’s debt ceiling and U.S. President Barack Obama signing legislation designed to reduce the fiscal deficit by more than 2 trillion US dollars over 10 years.....Full text
1981/2011 Racism, Injustice and Hypocrisy
Amrit Wilson
In early August, the ‘riots’ which began in Tottenham, a working class area of London with a significant black community, spread rapidly to other parts of London and then to other major cities in England. Many commentators have focused on the parallels and differences with the riots which took place in 1981. Like the recent events, the 1981 riots, dubbed ‘uprisings’ by many at the time, were not conflicts between communities. They involved youths of African-Caribbean, Asian and white origin taking to the streets and engaging in running battles with the police.....Full text
Norway Massacre:
Signal of Rising Right-Wing Climate in Europe
July saw Norway’s orderly life blown apart by bomb blasts and the massacre of over 70 youth by a gunman. Scores of others were injured and Norway was left stunned, traumatized, and bleeding.
Much of the western media immediately went into a knee-jerk ‘Muslim-terrorism’ reaction. Obama used it to justify his wars against ‘terrorism’. Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper, The Sun, ran a front-page headline that read, “Al-Qaeda’ Massacre: Norway’s 9/11.” In the United States, Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal also initially blamed “jihadists,” reporting that “Norway is targeted for being true to Western norms.”....Full text
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Film |
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The ‘debate’ over caste-based reservations (a settled debate in many ways) was deliberately raked up by Aarakshan’s makers as a conscious marketing strategy. The pronouncements of prominent figures associated with the film prompted natural suspicions about its intent, and led to widespread protests and even bans in some states before its release.....Full text
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Cover |
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Grave Findings of Kashmir SHRC
In the police-mafia regime of Mayawati-ruled UP, ‘Gangster Act’ and custodial torture is the reward for struggling for the landless poor.
On the face of it, Mayawati’s government appears to be at loggerheads with the Congress in UP. But when it comes to the nexus with the land mafia in Pilibhit, the UP police and local Congress leaders have united to falsely frame and torture a young CPI(ML) activist. ....Full text
OBITUARY....Full text
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