Print Edition
Interim Budget 2024: Continuing Modi’s Apathy Towards the Vulnerable
The Union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, introduces us to four pillars for whom the 2024–25 interim budget is designed: the poor, women, youth and farmers. However, the budgetary allocations do not reflect this commitment. Comments on the Interim Budget by several authors.
Why Israel’s War Is Genocide — and Why Biden Is Culpable; Also: ‘The Silence of the Damned’.
Israel has made no secret of it: it has embarked on a genocidal plan to “create conditions where life in Gaza becomes unsustainable.” And Joe Biden is its accomplice. Also: Those refusing to denounce this genocide – history will not judge them kindly.
From Guernica to Gaza
Like today’s Gaza, Guernica was reduced to massive rubble shrouding innocent civilians whose flesh, blood, bones, and sinews cloaked the bleak landscape of rubble, rebar, and crater-size pocked apocalyptic destruction where once high-rise structures, streets, and alleyways existed.
The Ram Rajya Being Imagined Is Certainly Not That of Gandhi’s
As a devout Ram bhakt, Gandhi’s idea of Ram and of Ram Rajya was a completely different one from the exclusionist and majoritarian Hindutva one that we see in circulation today. Also, extract from: ‘Gandhi’s Ram Rajya Was No Hindu Raj’.
Nyay Yatra: Rahul Unveils Five Pillars of Justice
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the idea behind the Nyay Yatra is to provide justice to people and the party will present a five-point blueprint of ‘nyay’ that will also help strengthen the country.
Journalists Unions Express Concern over Broadcasting Bill 2023; Also: Interview with RSF Head Célia Mercier
The NAJ, DUJ, and APWJF express their concern that the proposed bill represents a significant step towards expanding undeclared censorship. Also: “Liberticidal Laws Have Tightened Government Control Over the Media Narrative in India” – RSF’s Célia Mercier.
An Open Letter to the President of India
“In February 2023, the government granted a lease to Vedanta to carry out bauxite mining in our hills, without taking our opinion or consent. We hope that you will take measures to put an end to this mindless process of mining and deforestation”, write the people of these villages of Odisha.
Labour Export to Israel Circumvents India’s Safety Protocol
While the conflict between Israel and Hamas rages on, claiming upwards of 25,000 Gazan lives to date, Indian workers have been permitted to take flights for work in Israel, bypassing the eMigrate system, the mandatory safety measures intended to protect and regulate labour migration.
The Carnival Games are Back!
Carnival games are rigged in favour of their owners. It seems ostensibly easy to win. But it isn’t. So was the Hindenburg expose on Adani. The evidence they poured out, and the zeal with which the Supreme Court took it up, convinced all that Adani’s dream run was over. But on its first anniversary, he is almost back on the top.
‘They’re Out to Destroy Everything… That’s Why We Too Must Think of Everything’
Last year, 2023, marked the 125th birth anniversary of epoch-defining German playwright and practitioner Bertolt Brecht. His words carry a sense of immediacy for us, so striking are the parallels between Nazi Germany and present-day India.
Blog
We Don’t Need This Education
A flawed education system that treats students as numbers, not minds, is taking a toll on adolescent mental health. Do we have a solution?
Watching the Steady Decline of Academic Freedom at IIM Ahmedabad
“I’ve not known the restraints now being imposed on the academic freedom to exist on the IIM campus during the last five years. But things have changed”, says the author.
The Reality of India’s GDP, Incomes, Consumption, Private Investment – 2 Articles
‘Ignore the Spin, Incomes, Consumption and Private Investment Have Stagnated’: The FM’s budget speech reiterated Modi govt’s achievements over the past decade; facts have never come in the way of Modi’s penchant for weaving self-congratulatory narratives. Also: ‘The K is Indian GDP’s Reality: Why Deny?’
GMOs Will Destroy Indian Agriculture and Harm the Health of 1 Billion Indians and Their Animals
Hybrid Bt cotton, the only commercialised GM crop in India, has failed conclusively. Based on this failure and the evidence on GM crops to date, the Union of India’s proposal to commercialise herbicide-tolerant (HT) mustard will destroy not just Indian mustard agriculture but citizens’ health.
The Only Right That Palestinians Have Not Been Denied Is the Right to Dream
The bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza continues. Amongst the dead are many of Palestine’s painters, poets, writers, and sculptors. One of the striking features of Palestinian life over the past 76 years since the Nakba of 1948 has been the ongoing richness of Palestinian cultural production.
Chaos in Ecuador
In recent years, the surging violence in Ecuador has made international headlines. Ecuador wasn’t always this cliche of a narco-state. It was once hailed as an ‘island of peace’, a security success story. What explains its spiral into chaos?
Crossing the Storm: EZLN Marks 30 Years with a 120-Year Plan
The Zapatista liberation movement gathered in Chiapas to honor three decades of struggle and prepare for an uncertain future.
More Than a Million and a Half People Hit the Streets Against Milei’s ‘Adjustment’
The general strike against the austerity measures and the Omnibus Law was strongly felt throughout Argentina yesterday. Although the mobilization had its epicenter in the capital, in the main cities of the interior, there were massive protests as well. A million and a half people filled the streets of the country.
A New Left Party Shakes Up Germany – 2 Articles
A new political party in Germany has been launched in Germany. It aims to draw a clear line between Berlin’s belligerence towards Russia and how the weight of that stance falls most heavily on the German working class through deindustrialization and austerity.
The Animal Feed Industry’s Impact on the Planet
The vast majority—more than 67 percent of crop calories grown in the U.S.—are used to feed animals raised for human consumption. Rather than feeding people, these crops feed the billions of chickens, cows, pigs, and other animals who live and die on factory farms. And that’s a problem.
China Is Now the World’s Sole Manufacturing Superpower – 2 Articles
China’s state-led economic development model has transformed it into what an EU think tank calls “the world’s sole manufacturing superpower”, making up 35% of global gross production.
How U.S. Muslims Have Transformed in the 20 Years Since 9/11—and What It Means in the Wake of 10/7
After October 7, verbal and physical assaults against Muslims in the United States have risen to levels not seen since 9/11. Censorship of pro-Palestinian views has also skyrocketed, and many are afraid not just for their physical safety but also their livelihoods.
Communication By and For the People: A Conversation with Thierry Deronne
Thierry Deronne is a Belgian-born filmmaker who has long accompanied working-class and campesino struggles in Latin America. He talks about the philosophy driving the community media movement and the future of popular communication, and specifically his current project: Hugo Chávez Popular Cinema and Theatre School.
Lenin’s ‘Last Testament’: The Prophetic Last Words of a Marxist for Our Times
‘Lenin led to Stalin’ is not even given the status of a historical controversy in schools and colleges. It is accepted as fact. This belief is destroyed by a document known as Lenin’s Testament. The Testament was dictated by Lenin as he lay dying in Gorky.
How Does Kabir Still Speak to Us?
The tendency of the human mind, whether fighting for personal territory or fighting for justice, is to create an enemy: self vs the other, us vs them, good vs evil. In our times, which seem more divided than ever, Kabir invites us to look beyond easy binaries.
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