THE 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemns the attacks launched on the education system by the present BJP dispensation. The pace of privatisation and commercialisation of education, an integral part of neoliberal policies, increased after the BJP came to power.  The intention is to withdraw the State from education and let private corporates occupy that space. These policies are a direct attack on quantity, quality and equity in education.During the pandemic, closure of educational institutions, sudden push towards online learning added to the distress.

THE experience of the Covid pandemic has demonstrated the need for strong and responsive public health system. The Indian experience in the pandemic exposed the shortcomings of the public health system in the country and the robustness of the government health sector in Kerala.India has one of the most privatised public health systems in the world, with minimal government investment in health. The combined expenditures of the union and states on health have been around 1 per cent of GDP.

THE 23rd Party Congress of the CPI(M) expresses grave concern at the deepening agrarian crisis in India, seriously aggravated by the neoliberal policies initiated in 1991 by the Congress-led union government in 1991, and taken forward since, by all subsequent central governments and by most state governments except those led by the Left. The current BJP-RSS regime led by Modi as prime minister has deepened the crisis with its ultra-neoliberal policies targeting all sections of peasants, agricultural workers and the working class.

THE brazen and unconstitutional assault on the special status of Jammu and Kashmir continues to be accompanied by the large-scale arrests, particularly of youth, and intimidation and harassment of mainstream political leaders through central agencies like ED, CBI, NIA etc. Unprecedented ferocious clampdown on the entire population and their basic rights continue.Arbitrarily dismantling the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir has resulted in seriously damaging the relationship between the people of the erstwhile state and the union.

US-imposed sanctions wreck the economies of target countries and cause immense suffering to their people. Because of sanctions, Iraq experienced a lack of drinking water, proper sewage systems, fuel, and wood as well as an increase in the spread of disease and mortality. Iran and Syria suffered a decline in the availability of food and medicines. Poverty and income-gaps increased under sanctions. An analysis of United States’ sanctions imposed since 2000 shows that they reduced the human development index of targeted countries and increased corruption.