UNION government is bent upon destroying the rural economy by dismantling the present structure of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs). These banks have been rendering a splendid service to the rural poor.Regional Rural Banks were established on October 2, 1975, through an ordinance to ensure sufficient institutional credit for the agriculture sector and to relieve the rural poor from the clutches of the usurious money lenders.

THE second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the working people of the country. In the first two weeks of June, the CPI(M) Delhi state committee conducted a survey to assess the impact of the second wave of the Covid pandemic on working classes in the Delhi-NCR region. The survey covered a total of 1,971 workers from Narela, Bawana, Sonia Vihar, Jahangirpuri, Bhalswa, Wazirpur, Shahbad Dairy, Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri, Nangli Vihar, Sitapuri, Rangpuri-Kusumpur Pahadi, Dakshinpuri, NE Delhi and Ghaziabad.

STEPHEN Hawking would turn in his grave if he were to get to know the contents of the Draft Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill. Had he been a resident of Uttar Pradesh, in one stroke, he would have become persona non grata.Nearer home, Noida CITU leader Ramsagar has three children. Both the oldest and youngest are deaf. Ramsagar was bemused when told that once legislated, parents like him would not be seen in contravention of the two-child norm that the bill seeks to impose.That is precisely what Sec. 15 of the bill would do, if enacted.

THE National Committee for Solidarity with Cuba and the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO) organised an all India webinar in solidarity with Cuba on July 26, 2021. July 26 is observed as ‘Moncada Day’, as it is on this day in 1953 that Fidel Castro and his compatriots stormed the Moncada garrisons, in an attempt to topple the dictatorship in Cuba. Though that attempt failed and Fidel Castro was captured and sentenced to imprisonment, the day has historic significance. The July 26 Movement played a significant role in the success of the Cuban revolution.

TO facilitate its agenda of wholesale privatisation, the Modi government brought in the Essential Defence Services Ordinance, 2021. The President of India promulgated it under the garb of “maintaining the essential defence services”. But its real aim is to throttle any strike and protest by defence civilian employees’ federations amid continued opposition to the government’s move to dismantle the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and corporatise the 41 ordnance factories situated across the country into seven companies so as to paveway for their ultimate privatisation.