DEMANDING repeal of three farm laws, and withdrawal of proposed 2003 Electricity (Amendment) Bill, the Telangana Rythu Sangham (Farmers Association) is organising a bus jatha in Telangana from January 1st to February 1, 2021. From November 26th, lakhs of farmers and people are agitating in Delhi demanding the repeal of farm laws.
THE Supreme Court of India (SC), after hearing a clutch of petitions on the farmers’ struggle, but completely ignoring the ones that challenged the very constitutionality of the three Farm Laws criticized the central government for its handling of the farmers' struggle on January 11 and suspended the implementation of the Farm Laws ‘until further notice’ on January 12.
THE Haryana chapter of All India Kisan Sangharsh Co-ordination Committee(AIKSCC) has condemned the police action on farmers who had assembled to peacefully register their opposition to a bogus mahapanchayat at Kaimla village of Karnal in support of anti-farmer laws being imposed in dictatorial way by the Modi regime.
On January 14, 2021, the CPI(M) has sent the following message to the LPRP.THE Communist Party of India (Marxist) greets the 11th Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and wishes it all success. We take this opportunity to greet all the members of the LPRP and the people of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.The 11th Congress of the LPRP is being held under most excruciating times. The hollowness of the capitalist model of development was thoroughly exposed during this period.
"Where the people are many and their hands are all emptyWhere the pellets of poison are flooding their watersWhere the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prisonAnd the executioner's face is always well hidden."WHEN the COVID pandemic took lives and the reality of the health care system of the country plagued by continued neglect was barely open, the Modi government true to form forced students to take final year exams. But it has done nothing to now reopen educational institutions except bring out guidelines which are an eyewash.
THE protest at Capitol building in Washington on January 6 was unequivocally condemned worldwide. Apart from the general feeling which many of us had to this protest/ attack, I was also intrigued to know- “How old is the building?” The same building which was targeted by the Trump supporters. This Capitol building was made operational in 1800 after seven years of construction work and continues to stand tall and serve its purpose.
THE darkest nightmare came alive on January 6, 2021. The venue was the most exalted symbol of American democracy, the Capitol Hill, which houses the Congress and the Senate. Images and live streaming videos invaded television households not just in the US, but across the world, with explosive fury.The setting for this extraordinary ‘insurrection’ was the holding of the Congress and the Senate for confirming the formal election of president – elect, Joe Biden. All possible institutional and legal challenges by Donald Trump to deny the results had been exhausted.
THE order of the Supreme Court on the three farm laws and the farmers struggle against them is ill-conceived and one-sided.The three-member bench headed by chief justice, S A Bobde has stayed the implementation of the three farm laws until further orders. This has misled some sections to hail the intervention of the Supreme Court. Actually, the stay is not linked to any further hearing on the substantive issues raised in the petitions or by the farmers in the struggle.
THE new year has begun with a sobering reminder that the foreign policy of the Modi government is in shambles and its pro-US approach has landed the country in a strategic cul-de-sac.The outgoing ambassador of the United States, Kenneth Juster, has in a farewell speech put the Modi government on notice. After binding India in a series of military agreements, the United States will not countenance any strategic autonomy for the country.
THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its profound grief at the death of veteran communist and former member of its Central Committee, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. He was aged 96 and died at a Patna hospital on January 11, 2021, where he was admitted a few days back.Ganeshda as he was fondly called, joined the struggle for India’s freedom as a student aged 17.