PRAGOTI

The Reply by the Minister of Corporate Affairs to the Lok Sabha STARRED QUESTION NO. 244 on "Frauds by Companies" answered on 14TH MARCH, 2013 is quite informative and revealing. Note what the Minister has to say on Ponzi schemes like Saradha: "There are certain companies which have floated fraudulent investment deposits mobilizing schemes (also called ponzi schemes) under various guises and are liable for action under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. This Act is administered by Ministry of Finance (Department of Financial Services) through the State Governments and figures of prosecution etc. are not being maintained centrally."

"S L Rao’s criticisms of the academics of the University of Pennsylvania, who had initiated a campaign against Wharton Business School’s invitation to Narendra Modi, in his article, “The trip that never was” (March 18), are not only unwarranted but they also defy reason" (The Telegraph, March 26, 2013).

Noting that 67% of the population of West Bengal comprised of poor urban and rural workers – both organised and unorganised – and small peasants, the former Communist Chief Minister of West Bengal had called upon his party comrades attending the 23rd State Conference of the West Bengal CPI (M) in February 2012 to reach out to these “basic classes”, build struggles on their issues to win their confidence and organise them under the red flag.

Excerpts from To the Crucible: An Irish Engagement with the Greek Crisis and the Greek Left by Helena Sheehan, published in the Irish Left Review: "There is a more sober and serious storyline at play in the transition of Syriza from a coalition of 4.5% to a party of 27% and the main opposition to a potential government in a scenario of epochal crisis. This is the story that I have been following in the last months. I saw the international left being galvanised by the success of Syriza in a way that raised our sights and held hope of becoming a force up to the demands of our times".