India
US presses India to join anti-China alliance
By K. Ratnayake, 5 March 2016
The head of the US Pacific Command urged India to take steps that would make it a “frontline state” in the US drive to encircle and prepare for war against China.
Indian power deal with Bangladesh highlights geo-political rivalry
By Sarath Kumara, 5 March 2016
Intense competition over infrastructure projects in Bangladesh shows that every country is being drawn into the maelstrom of war tensions created by the US drive against China.
China and Brazil: Two expressions of the deepening capitalist breakdown
By Nick Beams, 4 March 2016
As the “BRICS model” of economic growth disintegrates, conditions are emerging for another financial crisis.
Sri Lankan government prepares to sign economic pact with India
By W. A. Sunil, 4 March 2016
To divert rising social discontent, nationalist groups have stepped up a virulent anti-Indian campaign that serves to divide workers in the two countries.
India: Stalinists to ally with Congress Party in West Bengal election
By Deepal Jayasekera, 3 March 2016
The Stalinist CPM is already holding joint rallies across West Bengal with Congress, the Indian bourgeoisie’s traditional party of government.
Indian ruling elite in economic bind
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 27 February 2016
Longstanding tensions between India’s BJP-led government and the country’s central bank over how to revive India’s flagging economy have intensified in the run-up to Monday’s budget speech.
India: Unions call off Tamil Nadu government workers strike
By Arun Kumar and Moses Rajkumar, 27 February 2016
Workers’ main demands—abolition of the National Pension Scheme, a salary increase, permanent employment and the filling of all vacancies—have been ignored.
India: Tata Nano auto workers strike over suspensions
By Arun Kumar and Deepal Jayasekera, 25 February 2016
The Nano workers’ strike is a sign of the growing social unrest created by the deteriorating living and working conditions of workers throughout India.
India: Mounting death toll as army deployed to end caste-based job agitation
By Sarath Kumara and Keith Jones, 23 February 2016
For decades the Indian bourgeoisie and its political hirelings have manipulated and incited caste and communal divisions, the better to divide the working class.
India: Over 200,000 Tamil Nadu government workers on indefinite strike
By Arun Kumar and Moses Rajkumar, 20 February 2016
The state-wide walkout reflects the growing opposition of Indian workers to successive government attacks on basic democratic rights and living standards.
Indian government jails student leader on trumped up sedition charges
By Pradeep Ramanayake, 18 February 2016
Home Minster Rajnath Singh personally ordered last Friday’s arrest of JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar on the grounds he had made “anti-national” statements.
Is the Indian Stalinist CPM heading for a split?
By Arun Kumar and Deepal Jayasekera, 16 February 2016
India’s principal Stalinist party is bitterly divided over whether to ally with the Indian bourgeoisie’s traditional party of government, the Congress, to contest elections in West Bengal.
India steps up pressure on Nepal
By W. A. Sunil, 5 February 2016
The conflicting signals over whether Nepal’s prime minister will first visit India or China reveals a political crisis exacerbated by India’s US-backed intervention.
French President Hollande visits India to boost military ties, investment
By Sarath Kumara, 3 February 2016
Coming after New Delhi opened talks on possibly hosting US troops on Indian bases, Hollande’s visit pointed to the military escalation seizing South Asia.
Indian Stalinist leaders divided over alliance with big business Congress Party
By Arun Kumar and K. Ratnayake, 23 January 2016
For weeks, leaders of the Stalinist Communist Party of India (Marxist) have been signalling their readiness to form an electoral alliance with the Congress Party for the West Bengal state elections.
Indian Stalinists form pro-imperialist Third Front in Tamil Nadu
By Athiyan Silva and V. Gnana, 22 January 2016
The Stalinists chose V. Gopalasamy, a pro-US politician and admirer of Barack Obama, as the leader coordinating the activities of the Front’s different parties.
Bangladesh: 41 belatedly charged over Rana Plaza factory collapse
By Sarath Kumara, 18 January 2016
The trial is essentially a face-saving attempt by the Awami League-led government, which has a long record of disregard for the appalling conditions facing apparel workers.
India in talks to open ports, bases to US military
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 16 January 2016
According to an unnamed Indian official, the only outstanding question is “what happens in the case of war?”
India-Pakistan talks may be derailed even before they begin
By K. Ratnayake, 13 January 2016
Whoever was responsible for the January 2 assault by armed gunmen on India’s Pathankot Air Force Base, its purpose was to scuttle the US-backed “dialogue” between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Indian prime minister visits Russia to consolidate relations
By Deepal Jayasekera, 5 January 2016
While supporting the US “pivot to Asia” against India’s regional rival China, the Modi government is maintaining New Delhi’s longstanding ties with Russia.
India’s Modi makes surprise visit to Pakistan
By Sampath Perera, 29 December 2015
Modi’s Pakistan trip was a pragmatic maneuver aimed at placating Washington and shoring up the increasingly embattled Indian government domestically.
Japanese premier forges ties with India to counter China
By Deepal Jayasekera, 19 December 2015
While currently proceeding under the aegis of the US “pivot,” Abe’s push for a closer partnership with India is driven by Japanese imperialism’s own substantial military-strategic and economic ambitions.
India: Government negligence responsible for flood disaster
By Sasi Kumar and Moses Rajkumar, 15 December 2015
Tens of thousands of people in the capital Chennai and across the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu are yet to be rescued and properly assisted.
Interview with Indian filmmaker Rahul Roy, director of The Factory
By Lee Parsons, 7 December 2015
Roy’s film chronicles the struggle of autoworkers at the assembly plant operated by Maruti Suzuki India, in Manesar, northern India.
India: Hundreds die in Tamil Nadu floods
By Deepal Jayasekera, 5 December 2015
The crisis in Chennai is a damning indictment of all levels of Indian government which have failed to implement serious flood-control measures or provide adequate emergency relief.
India: Modi announces new wave of pro-investor reforms
By Kranti Kumara, 27 November 2015
In an attempt to kick-start India’s languishing economy, the BJP government has raised or outright eliminated foreign investment caps.
The Factory: Documentary brings Indian auto workers’ struggle to an international audience
By Sampath Perera, 25 November 2015
The documentary from filmmaker Rahul Roy sheds important light on the brutal conditions facing workers in India’s rapidly expanding, globally integrated auto industry.
India: Heavy rains and floods kill over 100 in Tamil Nadu
By Sasi Kumar and Moses Rajkumar, 21 November 2015
The flood situation in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu is an indictment not only of the ruling AIADMK but also the opposition DMK.
India: Workers in Kerala denounce communalism and the danger of war
By a WSWS reporting team, 20 November 2015
Plantation workers spoke about the Modi government’s efforts to divide workers along religious lines.
India: Kerala plantation workers denounce unions’ wage sellout
By WSWS reporting team, 14 November 2015
Anger is mounting among Kerala plantation workers over the unions’ back-room deal with employers to cut living standards.
India: Modi’s BJP trounced in Bihar elections
By Deepal Jayasekera, 10 November 2015
In an election that was widely held to be a referendum on Modi’s premiership, the BJP suffered a major defeat.
India: Modi and his BJP government incite Hindu communalism
By Arun Kumar and Keith Jones, 6 November 2015
Rank communal appeals have been front and center in the BJP’s campaign for the hotly-contested Bihar state assembly election.
Nepal turns to China for fuel to counter Indian blockade
By Vijith Samarasinghe, 2 November 2015
The conflict engulfing the small Himalayan state is another illustration of the sharp geo-political tensions building up across Asia.
Indian trade unions shut down Kerala plantation workers’ strike
By Arun Kumar, 27 October 2015
There is growing anger among plantation workers across the southern Indian state of Kerala over the unions’ wage betrayal.
India joins trilateral “dialogue” with US and Japan
By Deepal Jayasekera, 7 October 2015
As part of its anti-China “pivot”, Washington has long been pressing India to join US-led trilateral and quadrilateral initiatives with Japan and Australia.
Major strike by Indian plantation workers for better pay
By Arun Kumar and Sathish Simon, 3 October 2015
The state-wide strike in Kerala followed an angry walkout by thousands of estate workers against a sell-out deal involving the unions, employers and the state government.
Pakistan expresses alarm over ever-expanding US-India strategic partnership
By Sampath Perera, 28 September 2015
In the run-up to today’s meeting between Indian Prime Minister Modi and US President Obama, New Delhi and Washington have further enhanced their military-security ties.
Sri Lankan prime minister visits India
By Deepal Jayasekera, 19 September 2015
Talks between Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Indian counterpart focused on deepening economic and military ties between the two countries.
India: Over 80 killed in Madhya Pradesh explosion
By Deepal Jayasekera, 16 September 2015
Saturday’s tragedy resulted from the widespread practice of storing explosives in residential areas to maximise profits.
India and Pakistan exchange war threats
By Sampath Perera, 12 September 2015
For months, India and Pakistan have been regularly exchanging artillery fire across the Line of Control that separates Indian and Pakistan-held Kashmir.
India invites Japan for naval exercises with US
By Arun Kumar, 5 September 2015
The decision by Prime Minister Modi to hold trilateral naval games involving India, the US and Japan has been encouraged by Washington as part of its aggressive “pivot” against China.
Millions of Indian workers strike against Modi government’s pro-market reforms
By our correspondents, 3 September 2015
While workers are determined to defend their jobs and living conditions, the unions used the strike to let off steam and keep workers tied to the political establishment.
Indian workers need a socialist strategy
the Socialist Equality Party, 2 September 2015
Today’s general strike attests to workers’ opposition to the Indian bourgeoisie’s neo-liberal agenda. But the strike’s organizers, the unions and Stalinist parties, are themselves complicit in implementing that agenda.
Indian unions to hold one-day national strike
By Deepal Jayasekera, 1 September 2015
The unions have called the September 2 strike not to mobilize workers and the rural toilers against the Modi government and its neoliberal policies but to contain the growing opposition to them.
India-Pakistan talks abruptly cancelled
By Sampath Perera and Keith Jones, 28 August 2015
The collapse of the Indo-Pakistani talks before they even began exemplifies the explosive tensions between the rival nuclear-armed powers.
India reaches into the South Pacific to counter China
By John Braddock, 27 August 2015
The summit was part of Indian efforts to build defence and strategic ties in the Asia-Pacific, designed to counter Chinese influence.
Flooding across South Asia affects millions of people
By Oscar Grenfell, 6 August 2015
Monsoonal downpours have created a humanitarian disaster, with the most impoverished and oppressed people among the worst affected.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalate despite Modi-Sharif meeting
By Sampath Perera, 1 August 2015
India’s 15-month-old BJP government continues to integrate New Delhi ever more completely into Washington’s anti-China “pivot.”
War dangers in South China Sea continue to rise
By James Cogan, 20 June 2015
Military deployments are taking place in Asia that would be viewed in China as preparations for a potential provocation.
Indian military raid in Myanmar escalates regional tensions
By Deepal Jayasekera, 16 June 2015
India’s pro-US, Hindu chauvinist government was quick to tout the cross-border raid against anti-Indian separatists in Myanmar as a warning to Pakistan.
Canada’s aboriginal Truth and Reconciliation Report—the class issues
By Carl Bronski and Keith Jones, 13 June 2015
The report issued by the Truth Commission on Indian residential schools documents a horrific crime perpetrated by Canadian capitalism—a crime whose impacts reverberate to this day.
Indian prime minister visits Bangladesh to strengthen ties against China
By Deepal Jayasekera, 12 June 2015
Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart declared that bilateral relations had entered a new phase.
US defence secretary boosts military ties with India
By K. Ratnayake, 5 June 2015
As Washington ratcheted up its confrontation with China over the South China Sea, Carter’s trip to India emphasised greater naval cooperation.
Indian heatwave kills more than 2,200
By Sujeeva Amaranath, 1 June 2015
Most of the victims in the worst heatwave since 1998 are construction workers, homeless people, street dwellers and the poor.
India: One year of the Modi-led, BJP government
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 30 May 2015
The BJP has moved India sharply right, lending support to the US’s anti-China “pivot,” imposing austerity and pro-market “reforms,” and inciting Hindu supremacism.
India’s Modi woos and warns China
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 21 May 2015
Overshadowing Modi’s entire visit was the heightening of tensions across the Indo-Pacific region as a result of Washington’s “pivot to Asia.”
India’s BJP government presses forward with big business “reforms”
By Deepal Jayasekera, 15 May 2015
The newly-enacted “reforms” will further enrich local and global investors at the expense of the working class and rural toilers.
India: CPM General-Secretary Sitaram Yechury’s right-wing record
By Arun Kumar, 30 April 2015
The new leader of the Stalinist CPM has for years functioned as a member of the political establishment, helping stitch together and prop-up a series of rightwing governments.
India: Stalinist CPM shifts still further right
By our correspondents in Visakhapatnam, 21 April 2015
The CPM’s new general secretary has long been associated with a party faction that favours closer relations with the Congress, India's traditional party of government.
Indian Stalinists reaffirm right-wing “political-tactical” line
By our correspondents in Visakhapatnam, 18 April 2015
This week’s congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) formally reaffirmed the policy under which it has propped up a series of rightwing governments dedicated to pro-market “reform.”
India: Stalinist CPM begins its 21st congress
By our correspondents in Visakhapatnam, 16 April 2015
With the working class on a collision course with Narendra Modi and his BJP government, the Stalinists intend to redouble their efforts to chain it to the BJP’s big-business political rivals.
Indian Stalinists meet amid political-organizational crisis
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 13 April 2015
Support for the CPM has hemorrhaged as a result of its leading role in implementing the bourgeoisie’s drive to make India a global hub of cheap-labor production.
India bans BBC documentary on 2012 Delhi gang rape
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 27 March 2015
In a blatant attack on free speech, India’s Hindu supremacist BJP government has banned India’s Daughter, a BBC documentary on a notorious 2012 gang rape and murder in Delhi.
Swine flu ravages India
By Arun Kumar, 25 March 2015
Almost two thousand people have died from swine flu in India in the past four months and a further 33,000 have contracted the disease.
Dozens killed in Indian railway accident
By Sujeewa Amaranath, 23 March 2015
While the immediate cause appears to be brake failure, the broader reason for the derailment lies in the rundown of the rail network by successive governments.
Modi visits Sri Lanka to push for closer ties against China
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 18 March 2015
The Indian prime minister undertook his trip amid US encouragement of New Delhi to play a greater role in the region, in order to counter China’s influence.
Modi bears strategic “gifts” to Seychelles and Mauritius
By Deepal Jayasekera, 14 March 2015
With Washington’s backing and encouragement, India is seeking to counter China’s growing influence by harnessing key Indian Ocean island states.
Modi visiting Indian Ocean islands in bid to undermine China’s influence
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 10 March 2015
The Indian prime minister’s tour of Indian Ocean island states is unfolding just days after the head of the US Pacific Fleet urged New Delhi to play a much larger role in the Asia-Pacific region.
India’s “growth” budget coddles business while punishing working people
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 3 March 2015
Big business has lauded Jaitley’s budget as good for investors and profits,
Mass layoffs shake India’s IT industry
By Jai Sharma, 27 February 2015
Indian IT companies have fired over 15,000 workers in the past year as they attempt to offload the impact of the global capitalist crisis.
Sri Lankan president’s visit to India highlights foreign policy shift
By Deepal Jayasekera, 25 February 2015
Four bilateral agreements were signed during Sri Lankan President Sirisena’s trip, including a strategic civil nuclear cooperation pact.
Upstart AAP staggers BJP and Congress in Delhi Assembly election
By Kranti Kumara, 11 February 2015
The AAP has stormed to office in India’s national capital territory, winning more than 50 percent of the vote and 67 of 70 assembly seats.
India, US boost military-strategic drive against China
By Keith Jones, 28 January 2015
US President Barack Obama returns from a three-day visit to India with a series of agreements that dramatically enhance the Indo-US “global strategic partnership.”
Obama to press India for economic and strategic concessions
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 24 January 2015
In a gesture meant to underline that Washington and New Delhi are enhancing their strategic partnership, Obama will be the guest of honor at Monday’s Republic Day celebrations.
Evidence of India’s involvement in regime change in Sri Lanka
By K. Ratnayake, 21 January 2015
Reuters reported that an Indian intelligence agent was expelled before the Sri Lankan presidential election, following complaints that he assisted the opposition parties.
Indian elite welcomes change of government in Sri Lanka
By Deepal Jayasekera, 17 January 2015
India’s over-riding concern is securing Sri Lanka’s shift away from Beijing.
India’s Modi regime imposes big business “reforms” by executive fiat
By Kranti Kumara, 9 January 2015
The ordinances were aimed at demonstrating to big business that the government is ready to use authoritarian methods to impose neoliberal reforms.
Unions scuttle half-million strong Coal India strike
By Arun Kumar and Kranti Kumara, 9 January 2015
The unions shut the strike down just as it was beginning to have a major impact on the country’s coal supply.
India implementing raft of “pro-investor” measures
By Kranti Kumara, 10 December 2014
India’s new government is gutting labour laws and has signaled its intention to dramatically scale back price subsidies and social welfare programs.
India: Open rift in Stalinist CPM
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 28 November 2014
The debacle the CPM suffered in last May’s national election has brought to a head longstanding differences over what right-wing course to follow.
Chinese and Indian leaders hold competing visits to Fiji
By Tom Peters, 27 November 2014
The two high-profile visits to the Pacific island country came amid increasing geo-political rivalry, fuelled by US imperialism’s “pivot to Asia” against China.
India: Open rift in Stalinist CPM
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 27 November 2014
The debacle the CPM suffered in last May’s national election has brought to a head longstanding differences over what right-wing course to follow.
ICFI/WSWS supporters in India hold public meeting on danger of world war
By our correspondents, 22 November 2014
Workers and students from various workplaces and colleges came to discuss an alternative socialist perspective.
India: Unions betray contract workers’ strike
By Arun Kumar and Moses Rajkumar, 21 November 2014
The trade unions were in such a hurry to end the strike that they called it off without even signing an agreement with the employer, NLC.
Australian government embraces security pact with India
By Peter Symonds, 20 November 2014
The manoeuvres surrounding the Indian prime minister’s visit were likened to the “Great Game” of imperialist rivalry in Asia before World War I.
India and Vietnam build closer economic and military ties
By Sujeeva Amaranth, 14 November 2014
The recent trip by Vietnam’s prime minister to India is the second high-level visit in two months involving the two countries.
ICFI/WSWS public meeting in India on the danger of world war
11 November 2014
We urge workers and youth to attend the ICFI/WSWS supporters’ meeting in Chennai to discuss the socialist response to the threat of war.
India criticises Chinese submarine visits to Colombo
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 10 November 2014
By objecting to Chinese vessels docking in Sri Lanka, the Indian government is clearly acting with Washington’s support.
Striking Bosch workers in India defy state government ban
By Sathish Simon, 22 October 2014
Bosch auto workers have been on strike in Bangalore since September 16, fighting for higher wages and better working conditions.
India: Tamil Nadu chief minister jailed over graft case
By Arun Kumar, 16 October 2014
Jayaram Jayalalithaa was stripped of her post and her seat in the state assembly, and faces four years in jail.
India and Pakistan trade warnings over escalating border clashes
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 10 October 2014
India and Pakistan have exchanged bellicose warnings over what are being described as the most serious border skirmishes in more than a decade.
India tilts still closer to Washington
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 3 October 2014
During his summit meeting with Obama, Prime Minister Modi signaled his readiness to align India still more closely with the US’s predatory global agenda.
Indian contract workers continue strike at state-owned energy company
By Arun Kumar and Kranti Kumara, 3 October 2014
Striking Neyveli Lignite Corporation contract workers in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu are defying a high court back-to-work order.
Modi promotes India as world’s sweatshop
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 1 October 2014
Modi’s new BJP government is seeking to convince world capital that India is the go-to destination for cheap labour.
US elite rolls out red carpet for Indian PM Modi
By Keith Jones, 30 September 2014
Washington has made no secret it wants to “reset” Indo-US relations, so as to harness New Delhi to its anti-China “pivot.”
India strengthens strategic ties with Vietnam
By John Roberts, 26 September 2014
The Indian and Vietnamese presidents issued a joint statement on the need for security in the South China Sea that was clearly aimed against China.
China’s president visits India in bid to counter US “pivot”
By Deepal Jayasekera, 24 September 2014
Xi’s visit to India was an attempt to counter the US-Japanese drive to strategically isolate and encircle China.
Australia-India uranium deal strengthens economic and strategic ties
By Peter Symonds, 6 September 2014
The uranium pact removes an obstacle to closer military relations between Australia and India as part of broader US efforts to forge an anti-China bloc.
India: NLC contract workers launch indefinite strike
By Arun Kumar, 6 September 2014
Workers are demanding permanency of jobs, wage hikes and higher bonuses.
India and Japan proclaim “special strategic, global partnership”
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 4 September 2014
Modi’s Japan trip launched a month of hectic diplomacy in which India’s prime minister will meet the heads of government of all the key powers in the military-strategic confrontation between US imperialism and China.
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