India's political parties
A study of democracy is incomplete without a study of one of its most fundamental components—political parties. In India, works on the country’s political parties so far have explored, among other things,
Political Parties
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Salim meets Buddha, Nirupam
In what was described a "courtesy visit', Mr Anthony Salim, the Salim group chief spent more than an hour closeted in a meeting with Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, chief minister and Mr Nirupam Sen, state industries minister and senior officials at Writers' Buildings even as the city lay paralysed following a strike call by Trinamul Congress today. While Mr Salim declared that his group will go whichever way the state government asks with regard to its projects in the state, he also speculated the possibility of launching new projects in healthcare and food processing, reports said.
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Mamata reacts
Miss Mamata Banerjee, Trinamul Congress chief today alleged that UPA has increased the price of petroleum products many times more than the NDA had, and dismissed the CPI-M's charge that she was silent when the NDA government took the harsh measure. She recalled she had tendered her resignation in protest in 2001 when the NDA government tried to raise the price of cooking gas by Rs 20. "This forced the NDA government to roll back and the increased price was Rs 10.'
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Sena protests fuel price hike, stages rail roko'
Peak hour train services on Central Railway's main line were disrupted on Friday morning due to a "rail roko" protest by Shiv Sena workers at Mulund against the fuel price hike by the UPA government. Over 50 Sena activists led by a local corporator went on the tracks at the station's Nahur-end at about 9.30 am and blocked movement on all the four tracks. Train movement was completely halted and the GRP men dispersed the mob within a short while. However, the traffic movement was restored by 10 am, the railway police said.
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Whither the subaltern domain? An ethnographic enquiry
Decentralisation of power and the institution of the panchayati raj system in West Bengal have been expected to aid the disappearance of subalternity (or a state of powerlessness) by way of caste, class and gender. On the contrary, an ethnographic investigation in a village panchayat reveals that divisions between the elite and the subaltern continue to exist in a complex form despite grassroots democracy in the state.
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UPA does it
GLOBAL OIL SHOCK HITS HOME: Petrol up Rs 5, diesel Rs 3, LPG 50; unpopular but we had no choice, says PM, calls for official austerity Aware that it would very well be the last price hike that his government could afford before the election frenzy sets in, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today came out of the clutches of Left allies, approving the maximum proposed increase in consumer prices to provide much-delayed succour to state-run oil marketing companies which have been losing money as global prices of crude oil head north.
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Cong needs to retrospect seriously
The United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre, which is left with less than a year in office before seeking a fresh mandate of the people, ought to draw three main conclusions from the Bhartiya Janata Party's first-ever victory in a state in the southern peninsula, which has jolted the Congress more than the others. The first is that disunity among progressive and secular forces has created enough space for religious parties to flourish and govern half-a-dozen major states.
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Bengal cushions hike with sales tax cut
Following a prod by CPI(M) state secretary and Left Front chairman Biman Bose, West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta on Wednesday announced sales tax cut on petrol and diesel to "provide some relief' to the common people even as the state Government urged the Centre to reconsider the fuel price hike. As a result of the announcement, consumers in West Bengal will be paying Rs 2.09 less per litre of petrol and Rs 1.36 less for diesel than they would have following the price hike had the state not cut taxes.
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Maya blue book for officials to keep her schemes afloat
In what is perhaps a first, Uttar Pradesh officials have received a book to make sure that the Chief Minister's announcements are implemented properly, and in time. "Uttar Pradesh ki Mukhya Mantri Mayawatiji ki ghoshnaon ka vivran' is meant for government officers. "The aim is to ensure that these announcements do not remain on paper and die a slow death,' said a senior government officer. The 153-page book is a compilation of 150 announcements Mayawati made in her one-year term
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Fuel Pricing (cartoon)
cartoon
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Left-ruled states to go on strike
Upset that most of its proposals have been ignored by the government, Left reacted to the price hike of petroleum products calling it unjustified and gearing for a "powerful protest movement'.