Category: Latest posts

The horrific truth of the killing in cold blood of thousands of innocent Kashmiris has been confirmed yet again by the report of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) which became public on August 17, 2011. The SHRC report has revealed unmarked graves in the three districts of Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipore in north Kashmir.

At the heart of the crisis is the question as to what constitutes political power in India, what is the genesis of the power, and the question of who wields it and for what purpose.  This question is directly related to the question of the 1950 Constitution of India, and what its central premises are.  This essence of the latter is the defence of a viciously exploitative system that defends the right of a miniscule minority to exploit the resources and the labour of the vast majority, and the ascendancy of the right of private property.

The Indian state and its activities are innately violent and its sole response to any struggle is one of wielding the big stick. This state derives its legitimacy as the successor to the colonial British state which looked upon the people of India as its enemy. The discussion must therefore begin as to what should constitute a modern state and what its duties and rights are. Is it so that the Indian state can carry on by dint of its existence, or must it have some other reason for its existence?  Has the state lived up to its duties and can therefore claim to have rights?

On 9th September 2011, residents of Sanjay Colony, under the leadership of the Lok Raj Samiti, staged a day-long dharna in front of the office of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) office in Okhla Industrial Estate Phase-2.  Besides registering their complaint against not being given water and ill-treatment by the Jal Board, the residents demanded an end to party-based politics in the operations

Casual workers of Air India are on the war path, trying to organize their own union to assert their rights. They want to be recognised as regular workers with all the rights of the regular workers who do the same work they do. The nearly 500 workers working in Chennai for Air India have taken the lead.

On 12th September 2011, the Maruti-Suzuki Employees Union organised a huge rally from Kamala Nehru Park to the Mini Secretariat in Gurgaon.

This rally was organised to demand withdrawal of the requirement of 'good conduct bond', reinstatement of union leaders and other workers and recognition of their Union. More than 3000 workers participated in the rally.

On 12th September, 2011, in the Manesar plant of Munjal Showa situated in IMT, workers sounded the bugle for a strike from 4 in the afternoon. They were demanding being made permanent employees instead of being treated as trainees indefinitely.

The Government of India is trying to mislead the toiling majority of people by claiming that capitalist monopolies in retail will help to control food prices. The real objective of the monopolies is not to provide essential items at affordable prices but to reap maximum profits at the expense of the producers. The real aim of the government is to enable this to happen. It does not want to accept its responsibility of ensuring that the livelihood of producers is secured, that food is available to people at prices they can afford through efficiently managed procurement and distribution and not allowing trade in essential items to be a profit making activity.

Growing political unity around the aim of people’s empowerment

Throughout the length and breadth of the country, crores of our people from all walks of life came onto the streets expressing intense anger against the corrupt political and economic system. They were inspired to express support to Anna Hazare and his satyagraha, or struggle for truth.