Draconian measures by the Modi government regarding Kashmir have sent shockwaves across the whole region. On 5 August, the 70-year status of the disputed Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked by a presidential order. The existing constitutional arrangement was also revoked suddenly without any democratic process.

The results of the general elections in India surprised many people across the world, with the right-wing Hindu fundamentalist BJP, led by Narendra Modi, winning a landslide victory. The BJP, a party now supported by big business and with a long history of anti-labour policies and roots in the RSS (a fascist organisation) has now become the second party in India to form consecutive governments, after the Indian National Congress.

The general elections in India are ongoing and the results will be announced on 23 May. Across India, 900 million voters will elect the National Assembly (or the lower house of the parliament, called the Lok Sabha) for a five-year term. The tragedy is that, at a moment when Modi is losing popular support, the left remains weak because of its past – and present – policies.

Jet Airways private airline services were suspended on Wednesday 17 April. The private airline was owned and run by Naresh Goyal from 1993, serving domestic and international destinations. In a fortnight’s time, it would have completed 26 years of service.

On 8-9 January, around 200 million workers went on a two-day strike across India, bringing the country to a grinding halt. The strike was called by 10 central trade unions of India against the anti-labour policies of the Modi government. BMS, affiliated with RSS-BJP, was the only central trade union that was against the strike and tried to sabotage it. All others supported the strike and made huge efforts to make it successful.

Dozens of peaceful demonstrators have been massacred by the state authorities in Tamil Nadu, India, after organising to demand the closure of a plant that is wreaking havoc on the environment and causing health issues for the locals. Louis Thomas reports from Tamil Nadu.

On 6 March, some 35,000 farmers from across Maharashtra marched to Mumbai, demanding of the state government land rights, loan waivers, fair compensation for their produce, respect and dignity for farmers from indigenous tribes (adivasis) and improvements in the agriculture sector, which makes up half of India's workforce and 14 percent of the economy.

Fue un gran éxito la primera reunión pública celebrada por la CMI en Katmandú - Nepal. A pesar de estar en el medio de la campaña electoral, la reunión sobre las lecciones de la Revolución de Octubre atrajo a 100 activistas comunistas, incluidos los principales miembros del Partido Maoísta y a jóvenes comunistas. A la reunión también asistió el camarada Gopal Kriti, un veterano activista de la clase trabajadora y miembro del Comité Ejecutivo del Partido Maoísta: una partido de masas en Nepal. La reunión se celebró en la sala de reuniones del Colegio de Abogados de Katmandú y fue dirigida por el camarada Yug Pathak, un periodista comunista; y el escritor y camarada Rob Sewell de la

The first ever public meeting held by the IMT in Kathmandu Nepal was a great success. Despite being in the middle of the election campaign, the meeting on the lessons of the October Revolution attracted 100 communist activists, including leading members of the Maoist party and the Young Communists. The meeting was also attended by comrade Gopal Kriti, who is a working-class veteran activist and member of the Executive Committee of the Maoist party: a mass party in Nepal. The meeting was held in the meeting hall of the Law College in Kathmandu and was addressed by comrade Yug Pathak, a communist journalist; and author and comrade Rob Sewell from the IMT.

We publish the following report and appeal for solidarity by a comrade from Socialist Voice, Coimbatore, regading a recent tragedy at a car manufactuing company in Tamil Nadu and an ongoing struggle by unionised workers...

Mahatma Gandhi, la figura destacada de la campaña nacionalista india contra el dominio colonial británico en la India, es conocida por la mayoría como un antiimperialista, cuyos métodos pacíficos, no violentos, ayudaron a derrocar el dominio británico. Este mito ha sido perpetuado por muchos. La verdad, sin embargo, es que traicionó a aquellos a los que inspiró en la campaña de independencia, defendió abiertamente los intereses imperialistas británicos, consolidó las desigualdades existentes, incluyendo la discriminación de castas, raciales y de género y, en última instancia, su papel ayudó a la desastrosa separación de la India con Pakistán.

In this article we summarise British rule in India and examine the main and most influential political characters, which eventually led to India being broken up, at Partition as it became known. Partition could have been avoided had it not been for the failure of the Communist Party of India (CPI) to provide the revolutionary leadership required. Partition, which was the final outcome of British imperialism’ manoeuvres, led to an immense bloodbath, a historical crime against the peoples of the subcontinent.

Mahatma Gandhi, the defining figure of the Indian nationalist campaign against British colonial rule in India, is known by most as an anti-imperialist, whose peaceful non-violent methods helped to overthrow British rule. This myth has been perpetuated by many. The truth, however, is that he betrayed as many as he inspired in the independence campaign, stood wholeheartedly with British imperialist interests, consolidated existing inequalities including caste, racial, and gender discrimination, and ultimately his role helped lead to the calamitous disaster of partition.

The past four months have seen a movement, which has been unprecedented in the history of Kashmir. Nearly 100 people have been killed by the ruthless repression of Indian armed forces while 17,000 people, including women and children, have been injured. A large number of the dead and injured have been youngsters, some less than twelve years old. The pellet guns used by security forces have damaged the faces of 1600 people and more than 1100 people have partially or lost their eyesight completely. In many aspects, this has become the biggest uprising in Kashmir's history.

On Friday the 2nd of September 2016 the biggest single strike action in world history took place in India. As many as between 150 and 180 million workers took part in the All India Strike around a 12 point charter of demands put forward by the Central Trade Unions. These included a raise to the minimum wage and pension for all workers, an end to privatization of state owned enterprises and contractorisation of the workforce, a halt to price hikes, the enforcement of labour rights and the scrapping of pro-employer labour law amendments.