2024

Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD
Date: 10.07.2024
Press Note
In an email to the Finance Minister, Govt. of India the Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) has demanded to increase the allocation to health to at least 3% of the GDP in the upcoming budget. Dr Arun Mitra – President IDPD said that India’s current public health expenditure is merely 1.35% of its GDP, which is among the lowest in the world. It has led to high out of pocket expenditure for a vast (…)

[fond blanc][noir]BOOK REVIEWnoir]fond blanc]
Review by KS Subramanian __0__
Shooting the Sun: Why Manipur was Engulfed by Violence and the Government Remained Silent
by Nandita Haksar
Speaking Tiger 2023, Rs 399
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Prelude
Manipur was an independent kingdom with a constitution of its own when it was forcibly taken over by India in 1949 in the name of national integration. The resulting resistance and insurgencies are characteristic features of the state. State repression (…)

[fond blanc][noir]BOOK REVIEWnoir]fond blanc]
Review by M.R. Narayan Swamy __0__
How the World Ran Out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain by Peter S Goodman
Mariner Books New York/Boston Pages: viii + 406; Price: Rs 599
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It is now politically fashionable in the US to blame China for all the economic ills the world’s richest country is facing. Yet it was the White House and the American monopoly capital that made Beijing what it is now – a global economic behemoth. (…)

* Guest Editorial - Fear still stalks religious minorities | John Dayal
* Tribute to Karamat Ali - Statement from PIPFPD -India (21 June 2024)
* Strengthening the Idea of Participatory Democracy in the Indian Context | Shalu Nigam
* India’s 18th Parliamentary Poll and the Left in Decline | Sukla Sen
* Spilling the Spanish Beans | George Orwell

21 June 2024
A week after the results of the 2024 general elections, on 12th June, four Christian families were viciously attacked by a mob of religious extremists in a village in Chhattisgarh. Two victims lost consciousness during the attack, and three required hospitalisation, including one with a broken leg. Since 2023, Christians in this village have endured sporadic aggression amid inadequate police protection. Religious extremists, a polite way of saying informal members of the Sangh (…)

The Year 2024
2024 is the year that is witnessing not only the still continuing Russian aggression, started in February 2022, against much smaller and weaker neighbouring Ukraine, in Europe, but also, in ever-volatile West Asia, the way more egregiously genocidal attack by Israel, inaugurated in October 2023 on the native Palestinian population in the region — Gaza Strip, in particular. It, however, is also the year when crucial parliamentary polls are held or being held or going to be (…)

June 17, 2024
The BJP-led NDA Government has assumed office again. It is improper to describe it as Modi 3:O, as the mainstream media is describing. It is only appropriate to describe it as a BJP-led NDA Government. The BJP, on its own, was is in a minority and solicited the support of the Telugu Desam Party ( TDP), the Janata Dal (U) and the Shinde-led Shiva Sena, who secured 16, 12, and 7 seats respectively to form the Government. The Coalition Government is no doubt headed by Narendra (…)

Since one year ago when the Congress came to power in Karnataka, the combined BJP-JDs opposition have been raising some imagined corruption issues.. However, it did not find any public support. The opposition has now found a major issue for confrontation with the ruling party in the State. It is, this week’s decision by the State Govt of increasing the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 3/- per litre with immediate effect.
The BJP-JDS combined opposition has immediately decided to (…)

The results of the 18th general elections in India held in 2024 demonstrate that when the authoritarian state crudely exploits its authority, it is the common people who hold the power to end such repression, to revive the democratic spirit, and to save the idea of an egalitarian, secular, hate-free, diverse, and united India. However, the election process, as it exists today, has several problems, and is seriously impacting the concept of representative democracy. Therefore, in order to (…)

(A summary of the talk given in the AIPF Study Circle, 16 June 16, 2024. With references from discussion.)
by Anil Rajimwale
The study of the middle class today has become far more complicated, because this class or stratum itself has become more complicated because of the vast changes in the last four decades or so. We need a deeper analysis of the problem.
A bit of history and background
The term ‘middle class’ has emerged in a certain historical context. Use of the word ‘class’ (…)