Poem: A Perfect Murder
Written on hearing about Father Stan Swamy’s death in custody.
Our Billionaires are Blasting Off…Good Riddance!
We don’t need billionaires out to “conquer space.” We need to conquer inequality.
Imperialism | Print Edition | Socialism | USA
Cuba: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise
When they tell me, a Brazilian, that there is no democracy in Cuba, I descend from the abstraction of words to reality. How many photos and news have been seen or are seen of Cubans in misery, beggars scattered on the sidewalks, children abandoned in the streets, families under the viaducts?
The Olympics Is a Racket
The world’s top athletes coming together in a spirit of friendly competition is a beautiful vision. But the Olympics have become a machine for the ruthless extraction of profit at the expense of working-class people.
Pegasus Project Report; Amnesty Int. and UN Rights Chief Statements; Test for Indian Democracy – Four Articles
Data Leak Exposes Global Surveillance Plot Targeting Journalists and Dissidents; Amnesty International ‘Fully Stands By’ Project Data; Pegasus Reports Highlight Need for Better Regulation of Spyware: UN Rights Chief; A Test for Pegasus – and Indian Democracy.
How Modi Is Trying to Use Gandhi’s Name to Whitewash His Dark Record
The plan to reshape the Mahatma’s Sabarmati Ashram is an act of vandalism.
For India’s Sake, Stop Destroying Communal Harmony with the Bogey of Love Jihad
The hate-filled and menacing messages on some WhatsApp groups are frightening in their implications.
‘Universalise Food Distribution so No One goes Hungry During Pandemic’ + State of Nutrition in India
To fight hunger and distress due to the pandemic, India must universalise foodgrain distribution, expand the food basket in its rations scheme and provide cash transfers. Plus article: Addressing the Nutrition Crisis in India in the Time of Covid 19 Pandemic.
Surging Fuel Prices Further Dent India’s Pandemic-Stressed Economy
Retail prices of petrol and diesel have gone up even as global crude prices dampened, and the dollar-rupee exchange rate remained relatively stable. All told, more than half the price consumers pay per litre of fuel goes to tax, of which the lion’s share goes to the central government.
The Forex Bonanza
The rise in India’s forex reserves is no cause for celebration. Rather it points to effects of the economic contraction induced by the pandemic and the new vulnerabilities that the circumstances accompanying the pandemic have generated.