Modi’s Pandemic Mess

THE Covid pandemic in India reached a landmark on July 5 when India became the third country, after the United States and Brazil, with the largest number of Covid cases in the world. It is no coincidence that the top three countries in this regard are being run by rightwing authoritarian leaders. India at present is also registering the highest number of cases per day along with these two countries. Currently, a hundred thousand (one lakh) cases are being added every four to five days. The death toll, which is understated, has crossed 20,000.

Modi Govt’s Clandestine Moves to Kill BSNL

IT is already eight months since the Modi government announced BSNL’s revival package with much fan-fare. However, except retrenching 79,000 employees under the VRS, no worth-mentioning step has been taken by the government to revive BSNL. On the contrary, clandestine moves are being made by the government to weaken BSNL and to render it a lame duck.

Privatisation of Railways: Self Subservience, Not Self Reliance

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on July 2

THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the decision for privatisation of the Indian Railways particularly the running of passenger trains by private investors over the Indian Railways network. This is the first time that this is happening in independent India. The private sector utilising the network established over centuries with all the required infrastructure will run passenger trains making super profits.

Pandemic Lockdown and Impact on Women – II

WHAT has come to be known as the shadow pandemic has affected women across the capitalist world in varying degrees. This refers to the specific impact of the corona virus, the lockdown and policies or lack of them which impact on women being women. Along with the problems that women face in the world of work which we had discussed in the first part, this includes increase in domestic violence, in the increased burden of domestic and care work and the resulting impact on women’s health.

Victory Day Anniversary Rally in Shahapur

ON June 24, the CPI(M) and AIKS held their 29th Victory Day public meeting at Pendhari village in the Tansa Lake area of Shahapur tehsil in Thane district. Over 2,000 adivasi peasants, including a large number of women and youth, attended with great enthusiasm.

TRIPURA: On Quadripartite Agreement for Permanent Settlement of Reang Refugees

A QUADRIPARTITE agreement was signed in New Delhi on January 16, 2020, for permanent settlement of Bru or Reang refugees, who were ousted from Mizoram and took shelter in different camps in Tripura. The four parties of the agreement are the union government, Mizoram government, Tripura government and leaders of the Reang refugees. The meeting for signing the agreement was presided over by the union home minister and the chief ministers of the two states and refugee leaders.

TN Custodial Killings: Blood-Thirsty Cops a Shame to Humanity

SATHANKULAM is a small town in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. Its Tamil name can be translated into English as ‘a pond where the devil resides’. The recent killings of a father-son duo in police custody tragically demonstrates that the epithet is not off the mark.

Left Parties Protest Demanding Reduction of Fuel Prices

Below we publish reports from the states on the protests organised by the Left Parties demanding the central government to sharply reduce the excise duties on petroleum products, and reduce its prices.
West Bengal

CPI(M) Opposes ECI's Unilateral Decision on Postal Ballots

CPI(M) general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, wrote a letter to the chief election commissioner, Sunil Arora on June 29, objecting to the unilateral measures being taken by the Election Commission, altering electoral procedures, without consulting political parties.

Yechury wrote, “We are greatly disturbed by the media reports that the Election Commission of India (ECI) bypassing the established practice of consulting political parties, is unilaterally initiating measures to provide voters aged over 64 years, the use of postal ballots.”

As US Buys Entire Stock of Remdesivir, Countries Need to Break Gilead Patent

THE US has bought up the entire stock of Remdesivir from Gilead, making it near impossible for this drug to be available anywhere else in the world. This has made all the more urgent that we break Gilead’s patent and issue compulsory license to Indian drug companies to manufacture the drug. The Indian Patent Act, 2005 in which the Left played a very important role, has clear provisions for compulsory licensing during a health emergency or an epidemic. Covid-19 is obviously both.

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