THE Kisan Sangharsh Jatha has begun from the historic Deshabandhu Grounds in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu on November 2, 2016.  The venue is named after Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das who had visited the place in the height of the freedom struggle and has witnessed the beginning of many historic struggles. It was from Virudhunagar that Tyagi Shankarlinganar hailed. He carried on a historic fast unto death for 76 days demanding the naming of the state as “Tamizhagam” or the land of Tamils.

THE All India Kisan Sabha has taken up an important programme at the all India level. Four Kisan Sangharsh Jathas will be held from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal from November 2-23. They will cover thousands of kilometres moving through villages and cities addressing meetings, interacting with the peasantry and rural poor, highlighting the problems and demands of the kisans.

THE All India Agricultural Workers Union General Council which met at Nalgonda from September 20-22, 2016, called on its units to observe October 24 as a nationwide protest day against the mounting attacks and atrocities on dalits. The council deliberations observed that since the BJP government came into power the emboldened Hindutva Parivar mounted an unbridled attack on dalits and Muslim minorities. Over the last few years, there is an exponential rise in atrocities on dalits.

THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on September 20, has strongly condemned the killing of two farmers including a woman in Nagaon district of Assam near the Kaziranga National Park in a forced eviction drive. Anjuma Khatun and Fakhruddin have died and five farmers are seriously injured in the firing. It is the insensitive approach and total failure of the administration that led to this unfortunate incident. Hence the chief minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal must tender apology to the people.

THE transformation of the agrarian landscape under contemporary capitalism has yielded new ways in which big companies use their financial power to control the production processes in agriculture. This use of financial and political clout can take many forms. The first is of course outright land deals where companies directly control both land and production. This is especially true of the African countries where agricultural supply chains have spread considerably. Here the control of land by the companies is direct either in terms of transfer of ownership, or through long term leases.