SOON after the farmers’ dharna at the five sites of Tikri, Singhu, Shahjahanpur, Palwal and Ghazipur got underway at the end of November 2019, women started joining the dharna, first in small groups and then in a steady stream.

THE All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) in a press note issued on January 19, strongly condemned the murderous assault on its national joint secretary and Tripura state secretary, Jharna Das Baidya, MP Rajya Sabha on January 17 by a gang of 30 BJP hoodlums in Agartala town, capital of Tripura. The AIDWA alleged that these hoodlums followed her on motorbikes when she was returning home, threatening and abusing her. They were armed with lathis, hockey sticks, iron rods, etc. These goons barged into her house and ransacked it. They stole cash and other valuables from the house.

IN its systematic attempt to vilify the farmers’ movement against the three infamous agriculture bills that open peasant agriculture to corporate take-over, the government keeps using the argument that the opposition to these bills is confined to farmers only from a couple of states, that farmers from other states are happy with the bills.

THE unprecedented nationwide farmers struggle led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha(SKM) is set to greatly intensify as it completes two months on Republic Day, January 26, 2021. The ‘kisan parade’ in the form of a huge tractor march on the Outer Ring Road to Delhi will undoubtedly be the most massive form of farmers’ resistance since independence. It will have tens of thousands of tractors and over a million farmers.

THE drug regulator's hurried emergency clearance to Bharat Bio-tech's Covaxin in a clinical trial mode has been followed by the government making it integral to its mass vaccination drive. It has bought 1.1 crore doses of Serum Institute-Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and another 55 lakh from Bharat Biotech. According to the government, neither states nor individuals will have a choice with regards to vaccines.