THIS note on behalf of the CPI(M) is to record our opposition to the main thrust of the Draft National Forest Policy 2018 which is to privatise and commercialise forests.  We see the policy document as a continuation of the unjust and pro-corporate process established by the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act (CAFA). This highly flawed law had eliminated the rights of tribal communities, other traditional forest dwellers and gram sabhas for access and management of forests and their produce.  The draft policy takes this approach even further.

THE adoption of the Draft Political Resolution for the 22nd Congress of the CPI(M) by a majority vote in the Central Committee meeting held in Kolkata on January 21, has raised a lot of comment in the media and political circles.

THE 199th birth anniversary of Karl Marx fell on May 5 this year. It is a precursor to the 200th birth anniversary of Marx which is going to be celebrated worldwide.

It may be asked, what is the relevance of a nineteenth century philosopher, Karl Marx, who also wrote a book called Das Capital, to the people living in the twenty-first century?