India
Indian parliament votes to create new Telangana state
By Deepal Jayasekera, 22 February 2014
India’s Congress Party-led government has rammed a bitterly contested law through parliament that creates a new state—Telangana—by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.
Delhi’s AAP government resigns
By Kranti Kumara, 19 February 2014
Seeking to become a player in Indian national politics, the now ex-AAP Chief Minister of Delhi is urging big business “to tell us what to do.”
US ready to do business with Hindu supremacist candidate for Indian PM
By Keith Jones, 15 February 2014
The US ambassador to India met Thursday with Narendra Modi, ending a nine-year diplomatic boycott that was imposed because of Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom.
Delhi’s AAP government teeters after month in office
By Kranti Kumara, 7 February 2014
Barely a month after taking office, Delhi’s Aam Admi Party government is mired in a spate of political controversies.
British role in 1984 Amritsar massacre
By Harvey Thompson, 4 February 2014
Recently released documents reveal Britain’s special forces, acting on orders from Margaret Thatcher, assisted the Indian government’s 1984 assault on the Golden Temple.
Japanese PM strengthens economic-strategic ties with India
By Deepal Jayasekera, 30 January 2014
Both Japan and India are concerned to counter the growth of China’s economic and strategic influence in Asia.
Khobragade affair exposes deep-rooted Indo-US tensions
By Kranti Kumara, 22 January 2014
India remains deeply dissatisfied with American treatment of diplomat Devyani Khobragade and, in both New Delhi and Washington, there is concern that the row could put new strains on Indo-US ties.
“The government, courts and police are all stacked against us”—spokesman for victimized Maruti Suzuki India workers
By Deepal Jayasekera and Arun Kumar, 21 January 2014
Vicitimized Maruti Suzuki India worker Mahabir Dhimm spoke with the WSWS about the government-company frame-up of 148 of his co-workers and the speed-up and repressive regime at the Manesar assembly plant .
Japanese defence minister’s Indian visit strengthens military ties
By Deepal Jayasekera, 10 January 2014
Tokyo is seeking to integrate New Delhi into a US-led strategic alliance against China.
India’s “judiciary acts on the agenda of the capitalists”
—says lawyer for Maruti Suzuki workers facing frame-up murder charges
By Deepal Jayasekera and Arun Kumar, 8 January 2014
The lawyer leading the legal defence of the 148 Maruti Suzuki India workers facing frame-up charges of murder and other grave crimes recently spoke with the WSWS.
India’s prime minister announces resignation
By Keith Jones, 6 January 2014
Manmohan Singh’s resignation announcement is a sign of mounting panic in the Congress leadership over the party’s election prospects.
India: Protest denounces frame-up of Maruti Suzuki auto workers
An on-the-spot report
By Jai Sharma and Arun Kumar, 31 December 2013
Victimized workers from Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar car assembly plant staged a two-day protest in Gurgaon, Haryana earlier this month to denounce the witch hunt that the company, police and Congress Party state government have jointly mounted against them.
Deadly train fire highlights poor safety conditions on Indian Railways
By Deepal Jayasekera, 30 December 2013
At least 26 people were killed Saturday morning when two coaches on a train traveling through Andhra Pradesh caught fire.
India’s Supreme Court re-criminalizes homosexuality
By Kranti Kumara, 28 December 2013
India’s Supreme Court has struck down a lower court ruling that declared unconstitutional a section of the penal code, dating back to the 1860s, that criminalizes consensual sex among gay men and women.
US arrest and strip-search of diplomat provokes India’s retaliation
By Keith Jones, 19 December 2013
US authorities’ arrest and intrusive strip-searching of a female Indian diplomat have provoked a major spat between Washington and New Delhi.
India: Frame-up trial of Maruti Suzuki auto workers continues
By Kranti Kumara, 19 December 2013
One hundred forty-seven Maruti Suzuki workers who face a long list of frame-up charges, including murder, are to appear for their next court hearing Friday, December 20.
Top Indian official declares relationship with China “adversarial”
By K. Ratnayake, 18 December 2013
National Security Board chairman Shyam Saran’s remarks point to a growing discussion in Indian ruling circles about closer defence ties with Japan and the US.
Uttar Pradesh government sanctions mass expulsion of Muslim villagers
By Kranti Kumara, 14 December 2013
Tens of thousands of Muslims who were driven from their villages by Hindu communalists are being illegally blocked from returning to their homes.
India walks fine line over China’s air defence zone
By K. Ratnayake, 11 December 2013
Significant sections of the Indian establishment are pushing for New Delhi to take a harder line toward Beijing.
Congress Party humiliated in Indian state elections
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 10 December 2013
The Congress Party has suffered a stunning defeat in a series of state elections.
Indian workers and students defend Edward Snowden
By our reporters, 29 November 2013
WSWS supporters in India campaigned over the past month in support of Snowden in Chennai, Neyveli and Bangalore.
New Delhi downplays evidence of extensive NSA spying targeting India
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 14 November 2013
The Indian government’s failure to lodge any official protest against US National Security Agency operations targeting Indian officials and diplomatic missions has drawn critical comment even from sections of India’s right-wing press.
Indian Stalinists invoke Hindu-communalist threat
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 9 November 2013
India’s two major Stalinist parties organized a national “Secular Convention” in India’s capital last week. It was a political fraud.
Indo-Pakistani relations fraught after months of border skirmishes
By Deepal Jayasekera, 8 November 2013
The past three months have seen a surge in cross-border firing between Indian and Pakistan military forces along the Line of Control in Kashmir.
India: Multiple bomb blasts at rally for BJP’s Modi kill five
By Kranti Kumara, 28 October 2013
Five people were killed Sunday when a series of bombs exploded at an election rally called to showcase the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate—the arch communalist and self-styled “strongman” Narendra Modi.
Indian government covers up military’s anti-constitutional activities
By Kranti Kumara, 18 October 2013
India’s Congress Party-led government wants to keep the Indian people entirely in the dark as to the anti-democratic conspiracies that are developing within the country’s national-security apparatus.
Indian foreign minister’s unproductive visit to Sri Lanka
By Nandana Nanneththi and Deepal Jayasekera, 16 October 2013
New Delhi’s push for a “political solution” with the Tamil elite received a cold response from Colombo.
Indian cabinet decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh sparks mass protests
By Deepal Jayasekera, 9 October 2013
The Indian cabinet’s decision to proceed with the bifurcation of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and create a new state of Telangana has provoked huge protests in Andhra Pradesh’s other regions.
Obama and Singh pledge major increase in US-Indian military-strategic ties
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 30 September 2013
At their meeting last Friday, US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to greatly enhance the Indo-US “global strategic partnership,” especially geopolitical, security, and military cooperation.
Secret Indian Army unit implicated in anti-constitutional acts
By Kranti Kumara, 27 September 2013
A secret military intelligence unit set up by the previous head of the Indian Army engaged in illegal activities, including attempting to engineer the defeat of the elected state government of Jammu and Kashmir.
India: Official Opposition names arch-communalist as its prime ministerial candidate
By Kranti Kumara, 19 September 2013
The Bharatiya Janata Party has named Narendra Modi—the Chief Minister of the western state of Gujarat and a notorious communalist—as its candidate for prime minister in the coming general election.
US war drive rattles Indian elite
By Deepal Jayasekera, 11 September 2013
The US drive to attack Syria is intensifying the crisis of India’s government and elite.
As rupee slides, India’s PM vows to accelerate pro-investor reform
By Keith Jones, 31 August 2013
The value of the Indian rupee continued to slide this week, forcing India’s central bank to take emergency measures.
Tense standoff between India and Pakistan along their disputed Kashmir border continues
By Deepal Jayasekera, 31 August 2013
For more than three weeks, India and Pakistan exchanged artillery fire dails across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region.
India: Plummeting rupee fuels fears of banking crisis
By Keith Jones, 24 August 2013
The rupee has depreciated by more than 15 percent since May, despite increasingly desperate efforts by the Congress Party-led government and the Reserve Bank of India to arrest the slide.
Indian rupee and economy in free fall
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 21 August 2013
India’s corporate media is increasingly voicing fears that the country could soon confront a current account crisis akin to that in 1991, when India was forced to seek an emergency bailout from the IMF.
Renewed clashes between India and Pakistan in disputed Kashmir
By Sampath Perera, 16 August 2013
The killing of five Indian soldiers in the disputed Kashmir region has resulted in a further escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan.
India: NLC contract worker and WSWS supporter Sivakumar dies at 42
By Arun Kumar, 14 August 2013
Sivakumar belonged to the most abused and exploited section of the working class in India.
Indian government to create Telangana state in southern India
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 3 August 2013
The Indian government is presenting the creation of Telangana as a means of overcoming socio-economic backwardness.
Defying police repression, Maruti Suzuki workers in India continue fight
By Arun Kumar, 1 August 2013
Last month, the Congress-led government in the northern Indian state of Haryana dispatched thousands of heavily armed riot police against a peaceful protest of Maruti Suzuki workers.
US vice president visits India to strengthen ties against China
By K. Ratnayake, 29 July 2013
US Vice President Joe Biden declared India “an indispensable part of our rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific”.
To avert current accounts crisis, India announces new measures to woo foreign investment
By Deepal Jayasekera, 27 July 2013
India’s Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance government has announced further “pro-investor” reforms in a desperate bid to increase foreign capital inflows.
India’s intelligence bureau and Gujarat police indicted for extrajudicial murders
By Kranti Kumara, 25 July 2013
India’s Central Bureau of Investigation has accused Gujarat police officers and at least one senior official of the central government Intelligence Bureau of having jointly organized the killing of four young Muslims.
Sri Lankan constitutional changes raise tensions with India
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 24 July 2013
Having defeated the LTTE in 2009, the Sri Lankan government is attempting to wind back powers previously granted to provincial councils.
India: Contaminated school-meal kills 22 children
By Kranti Kumara, 18 July 2013
At least 22 school children, ranging in age from 5 to 12, have died as the result of eating a severely contaminated mid-day meal Tuesday in a government-run primary school in Bihar.
India: NLC strike against privatisation continues
By Arun Kumar, 12 July 2013
The Tamil Nadu government’s offer to buy a stake in the company will only lead to further restructuring as the prelude to further “disinvestment.”
Indian Stalinist party refuses to defend Snowden
By Deepal Jayasekera, 8 July 2013
The CPM’s criticisms of US spying operations are based on defending the interests of the Indian bourgeoisie, not the democratic rights of working people.
India: Plummeting rupee sparks fears of current account crisis
By Kranti Kumara, 5 July 2013
There are increasing fears within the Indian elite that the rupee’s plummet—it has lost more than 10 percent of its value since April—could cascade into a current account crisis.
NLC workers in south India strike against privatisation
By Arun Kumar and Deepal Jayasekera, 5 July 2013
The privatisation of the state-owned coal and power company can only be defeated as part of a broader challenge to the big business policies of India’s entire ruling elite.
Indian government rejects Snowden’s asylum request
By K. Ratnayake, 4 July 2013
No explanation has been provided to justify the decision, which underscores New Delhi’s contempt for democratic rights.
Thousands remain missing in India’s Himalayan flood disaster
By Sampath Perera, 2 July 2013
Despite official attempts to downplay the toll, leading figures in the state government say the number of deaths may reach 10,000.
At least 1,000 killed in Indian floods and landslides
By Sampath Perera, 24 June 2013
Thousands of people are still missing and tens of thousands are stranded in mountainous areas, in what has been called a “Himalayan tsunami.”
New flare-up of Indo-Pakistani tensions in disputed Kashmir
By Deepal Jayasekera, 12 June 2013
India alleges a junior Indian army officer was killed late last week when Pakistan’s military shelled Indian positions across the Line of Control.
India’s Supreme Court approves nuclear plant, saying “destiny” to decide if it is safe
By Kranti Kumara, 1 June 2013
In a ruling marked by indifference to the safety of ordinary Indians, India’s Supreme Court approved operationalizing the Kundankulam nuclear plant.
Indian state to intensify counter-insurgency war after Maoist ambush
By Deepal Jayasekera, 29 May 2013
Maoist guerrillas ambushed a Congress Party convoy in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh last Saturday evening.
Indian business whets Hindu communalist’s prime ministerial ambitions
By Kranti Kumara, 27 May 2013
After receiving a ringing endorsement from India’s business elite, Narendra Modi—the arch-communalist Chief Minister of Gujarat—is being touted by the corporate media as a prime ministerial candidate in India’s 2014 national election.
India: We Tamils Party promotes communalism in Tamil Nadu
By Athiyan Silva, 14 May 2013
The NTK campaign is a reactionary attempt to divide workers in Tamil Nadu from their class brothers in Sri Lanka and India.
Tensions rise in India-China border stand-off
By Deepal Jayasekera, 4 May 2013
The current border stand-off between India and China reflects the explosive political tensions unleashed by the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia.”
Border tensions between India and China escalate
By Deepal Jayasekera, 27 April 2013
India has alleged that a platoon of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) intruded 10 kilometers into Indian territory.
India: Victimized Maruti Suzuki workers stage fresh protests
By Deepal Jayasekera, 13 April 2013
Victimized workers from the Maruti Suzuki car assembly plant at Manesar, Haryana continue to mount protests against their arbitrary dismissal and the jailing of almost 150 workers on grave, trumped-up criminal charges.
Indian building collapse kills 75
By Shree Haran and John Watanabe, 8 April 2013
The tragedy exposes the abysmal living conditions facing millions of working people in Mumbai, the country’s financial centre.
India: Stalinist CPM waffles over its full-throated support for Afzal Guru’s execution
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 22 March 2013
After giving its full-throated support to the recent secret execution of Afzal Guru, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has belatedly raised reservations about “the manner in which the death sentence was executed.”
India: Victimized Maruti Suzuki workers file affidavits documenting their torture
By Arun Kumar and Kranti Kumara, 20 March 2013
Thirteen of the jailed Maruti Suzuki workers have filed affidavits in court accusing Haryana state police and senior management personnel of colluding in their torture and threatening to kill them.
India manoeuvres over UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka
By Deepal Jayasekera, 19 March 2013
The Indian government is under pressure from Tamil Nadu parties over its stance on a US-backed resolution at UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka.
India: Accused in Delhi rape found hanging in his prison cell
By Deepal Jayasekera, 13 March 2013
While police and prison authorities are claiming that the accused committed suicide, his family and lawyers are charging that he was murdered.
Indian budget offers concessions to big business while slashing price subsidies
By Deepal Jayasekera, 2 March 2013
India’s last full budget before the next national election has provided domestic and foreign investors with fresh tax and other concessions, while slashing subsidies for working people and the rural poor.
India: Chief Minister threatens victimized Maruti Suzuki workers
By Arun Kumar and Jai Sharma, 2 March 2013
Haryana’s Chief Minister has threatened to order further arrests of victimized Maruti Suzuki workers.
Indian general strike ends with no demands met
By Arun Kumar, 23 February 2013
By calling the strike, the trade unions sought to let off steam, and prevent workers from launching any independent struggle to defend jobs and living standards.
Prime Minister Cameron’s India tour highlights UK’s weakening global position
By Julie Hyland, 22 February 2013
Cameron said that there was “no thinking” that a partnership with India “is ours for the taking”. He was right.
Tens of millions of Indian workers join general strike
By Arun Kumar, 21 February 2013
The two Stalinist union federations called the strike to let off steam and forge closer ties with bourgeois parties, including those of the extreme right.
To defeat ruling class assault,
Indian workers need a socialist program
By the WSWS Editorial Board, 20 February 2013
Tens of millions of workers across India will join a two-day general strike today and Thursday to protest against the Congress Party-led government’s social spending cuts and pro-investor “reforms.”
India: Thousands join protests to support victimised Maruti Suzuki workers
By Arun Kumar, 19 February 2013
Thousands of workers participated in an “All-India Protest Day” to voice their support for victimized workers at Maruti Suzuki India’s car assembly plant in Manesar, Haryana.
French President Hollande presses for major arms deals in India
By Kumaran Ira, 19 February 2013
French President François Hollande made a two-day visit to India last week to promote large-scale military deals amid a growing arms race in Asia.
India: Cash transfer scheme aims to slash subsidies to India’s poor
By Ajay Prakash and Kranti Kumara, 15 February 2013
The Indian government has launched a program to replace all its subsidies on food and other essential commodities with cash payments. Due to India’s double-digit inflation rate, the real value of these payments will rapidly decline, further squeezing incomes.
A legal lynching: Indian government executes Afzal Guru
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 12 February 2013
In an action that exemplifies the reactionary trajectory of India’s Congress Party-led government, it ordered the secret execution last Saturday of Mohammad Afzal Guru.
India: Victimized Maruti Suzuki workers continue to protest
By Arun Kumar and Kranti Kumara, 2 February 2013
Victimized Maruti Suzuki India workers staged a rally last Sunday to demand their reinstatement and the immediate release of 150 workers who have been jailed on frame-up charges.
Union limits Indian auto workers to “go-slow” campaign over wages
By Arun Kumar, 28 January 2013
Over one thousand workers at Hero MotoCorp’s (HMCL) Gurgaon and Dharuhera plants in the northern Indian state of Haryana carried out a “go-slow” job action on January 23.
India: Union calls off Chennai air cargo strike
By Sasi Kumar and Moses Rajkumar, 22 January 2013
The airport workers had demanded regularisation of their jobs, higher wages, and basic medical and canteen facilities.
Unions abruptly shut down “indefinite” public sector strike in Kerala
By Arun Kumar and Kranti Kumara, 19 January 2013
A militant strike of several hundred thousand government employees and teachers in the southern Indian state of Kerala collapsed this week after the Stalinist trade-union leadership negotiated a surrender agreement with the state government.
India and Pakistan exchange threats in Kashmir border dispute
By Sampath Perera, 15 January 2013
Tensions between India and Pakistan remain acute, with the two countries accusing each other of initiating the intermittent border clashes.
India and Pakistan clash again in disputed Kashmir area
By K. Ratnayake, 10 January 2013
Clashes in Kashmir between the militaries of Pakistan and India underscore the highly volatile situation in the region.
Indian establishment manipulating anger over Delhi rape
By Deepal Jayasekera, 10 January 2013
The case is being exploited to further strengthen the repressive apparatus of the state.
Witch-hunt continues against Maruti Suzuki workers in India
By Arun Kumar and Kranti Kumara, 10 January 2013
Police have arrested another Maruti Suzuki worker in India, bringing the total number of framed-up and jailed auto workers to 150.
India and Pakistan involved in fatal border clash
By Keith Jones, 7 January 2013
India and Pakistan are trading accusations after a bloody clash over the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir early yesterday morning.
Rape of Delhi woman sparks protests in India
By Deepal Jayasekera, 28 December 2012
Thousands of people, mainly students, protested last week in the Indian capital, New Delhi, against the gang rape of a young woman on December 16.
Ravi Shankar, acclaimed Indian musician, dies at 92
By Kapila Fernando, K. Ratnayake and Peter Symonds, 20 December 2012
What was unique about Ravi Shankar was the breadth of his interests, willingness to experiment and passion for making classical Indian music available to the world.
Instigator of 2002 Gujarat pogrom seeks new term as chief minister
By Kranti Kumara, 17 December 2012
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, an unabashed Hindu supremacist, is hoping he can use victory in the Gujarat state elections to catapult himself into the national political arena.
Indian establishment mourns founder-leader of fascist Shiv Sena
By Nanda Wickremasinghe, 15 December 2012
The fawning send-off the Indian ruling class accorded Bal Thackeray, the founder-leader of the fascist Shiv Sena (SS), following his death last month at the age of 86 constitutes both a lesson and warning to the working class.
India: Thousands join convention and protest to defend victimised Maruti Suzuki workers
By Arun Kumar, 15 December 2012
The convention and march underscores growing militancy among auto workers in India who want to fight the slave labour conditions they are subjected to.
After winning FDI vote, Indian government vows to push ahead with pro-investor measures
By Deepal Jayasekera, 13 December 2012
Last week’s debate and vote on opening India to Walmart and other giant retailers has underscored the support of all sections of India’s political establishment for big business’ economic agenda.
Defend auto workers victimised by Maruti Suzuki and Indian authorities
By World Socialist Web Site, 6 December 2012
Workers across India and internationally must defend the workers at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar assembly plant who are the target of a joint vendetta by India’s largest automaker and the Congress Party-led Haryana government.
Behind the UAW’s “support” for the Maruti Suzuki workers
By Jerry White, 5 December 2012
The United Auto Workers union in the United States has issued a letter of protest against the firing and arrests of workers at a Maruti Suzuki India plant.
A significant report on the global economy
By Nick Beams, 23 November 2012
China and India will not be able to provide the basis for a new period of global growth
India: Thousands protest victimization of Maruti Suzuki workers
By Arun Kumar, 14 November 2012
Victimized workers from Maruti-Suzuki’s Manesar car assembly plant staged a series of protests last week to demand their reinstatement and to fight for the release of 149 workers who have been beaten and tortured while in police custody.
“Many could have been tortured to death,” charges lawyer for jailed Maruti Suzuki India workers
By Arun Kumar, 13 November 2012
In an interview with the World Socialist Web Site, one of the lawyers who represents the 149 jailed Maruti Suzuki India workers described how many of them have been brutally tortured by police.
India: Jailed Maruti Suzuki workers subjected to torture
By Arun Kumar and Kranti Kumara, 23 October 2012
Indian authorities have tortured militant Maruti Suzuki workers who were jailed as part of a corporate-government conspiracy to convict them on murder charges.
India’s Kingfisher Airlines workers demand unpaid salaries
By Sathish Simon and Kranti Kumara, 19 October 2012
Several hundred employees at privately-owned Kingfisher Airlines in India have engaged in strikes and other job actions over the past month to demand back wages owed to them since March.
Despite mass opposition, India pushes ahead with operationalizing nuclear plant
By Arun Kumar and Kranti Kumara, 27 September 2012
Despite mass protests and numerous safety concerns, Indian authorities are pushing ahead with the loading of nuclear fuel into a newly-built nuclear power plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu.
India’s government survives defection, vows to press forward with “big bang” reforms
By Deepal Jayasekera, 22 September 2012
To fervent applause from big business, India’s Congress Party-led government is pressing ahead with its pro-investor “reforms” in the face of mass popular opposition and the defection of a coalition partner.
Millions protest in India against “big bang” pro-market measures
By our reporters, 21 September 2012
The widespread participation in the bandh demonstrates the popular outrage over the government’s announcements, which will impact severely on living standards.
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