Health is No Priority Still

THE Covid-19 pandemic has brought out the stark inadequacy and abysmal neglect of the public health system in India. Even after 50 days of the lockdown, the Modi government seems to have not learnt from the experience of tackling the deadly virus. In state after state, government hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of patients and the lack of treatment facilities. The state of government hospitals in the hotspot of Mumbai provides a grim illustration.

Fighting Covid-19: The Kerala Model

KERALA’s fight against the deadly Covid-19 pandemic has been multi-pronged. Firstly, the deadly virus itself, second an opposition that has been busy working overtime to derail the efforts of the state government by leading a malicious campaign to malign the reputation of the state and the government, and then a union government with a discriminatory attitude.

AP: Sundarayya Skill Development Centre Shelters Migrant Workers

SUNDARAYYA Skill Development Centre, a three-storied building in the capital region of Andhra Pradesh has been turned into a shelter for migrant workers. This building at Vaddeswaram has become a shelter for 47 migrant workers belonging to Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of AP, bordering Odisha. Due to lockdown, these workers lost their livelihood and decided to go back to their native places in AP. They were coming from Chennai on foot as there was no travel facility.

AP: LG Polymers Gas Leak – A Corporate Crime

IN the wee hours of May 7, the unusual foggy dawn surprised people living around the LG Polymers India Ltd plant in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. They were caught unawares by the pungent odour and breathlessness. People came out of their homes and ran helter-skelter, with many of them falling unconscious and collapsing on roads. It was a run for survival for many as panic gripped the area. Twelve people died in the gas leak.

The War on Labour

EVEN as millions of migrant workers are wearily trudging back to their villages with no money, no food and no shelter, or are locked up en route in shoddy quarantine camps, a war has been unleashed on the rights of workers under the cover of the lockdown. The BJP, true to form, is the political formation leading this class war through its state governments. The Uttar Pradesh government has through an ordinance suspended all labour laws (except just four) for a period of three years.

Withdraw This Retrograde, Anti-People “Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020”

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on May 11

THE CPI(M) opposes the proposed “Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020” which is designed for the complete privatisation of the power sector.

Condemn Criminal Treatment of Migrant Workers

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on May 8

THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its deep shock and anguish over the tragic death of 16 migrant workers who were travelling from Jalna in Maharashtra where they were walking to their native place in Sahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. The tragedy took place at 5.30 am this morning when these hapless workers, exhausted as they were, had fallen asleep on the railway track itself.

Peasants Struggles in Assam and Surma Valley

PRE-PARTITION Assam had two provincial Kisan Sabhas formed on linguistic basis – two Bengali speaking districts (Cachar and Sylhet) were in Surma Valley Provincial Kisan Sabha, formed in 1936 and all other districts of Assam in the Assam Provincial Kisan Sabha, formed in 1946. However, the activities of the Kisan Sabha in Assam had started since 1943.

LG Vizag Styrene Leak: Corporate-Regulatory Collusion Unabated

THE horrific leak of Styrene vapour from the LG Polymers plant in Vizag in the early hours of May 7, 2020, causing at least 13 deaths and serious injuries to several hundreds of people near the plant, has revived memories of the Bhopal Gas Disaster in December 1984. Like in Bhopal, the LG plant was once in the city suburbs, but dense habitations had been allowed to come up in its vicinity.

Release Opposition Leaders & Human Rights Activists

Leaders of eight political parties – CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), AIFB, RSP, LJD, RJD and VCK – in a letter addressed to the president of India on May 11, demanded the immediate release of opposition leaders and human rights activists and called for an end to a politics of vendetta against protesters and political dissenters. They expressed concern and condemnation at the spate of arrests of students and activists under the draconian UAPA during the time when the country and people are dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

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