THE Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) call for a Bharat Bandh on March 26, the day the farmers’ struggle completed four months, and for burning the three hated farm laws on the day of Holi, March 28, received enthusiastic response all across the country.The Bharat Bandh call had been given for the following five demands: Repeal the three farm laws; make law on MSP and procurement; cancel all police cases against farmers; roll back the electricity bill and the pollution bill; and reduce prices of petrol, diesel and gas.The Bharat Bandh got a large response in states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar P

THE fight being put up by the employees and workers’ unions of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) against its privatisation is inspiring to those unions of public sector units (PSUs) and other establishments which are proposed to be privatised, across the country, said Tapan Sen, CITU general secretary.Addressing a large public meeting, ‘Ukku Karmika Garjana’, organised by the Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee, at Trishna grounds in VSP, on March 20, he raised the questioned as to why the centre is interested in the privatisation of the VSP rather than coming up with solutions to

THE Left Front sounded the poll bugle from the mega rally held at the historic Brigade Parade Ground on February 28. The tone and tenor of the campaign for the elections was set at this rally by CPI(M) general secretary, Sitaram Yechury when he said in no uncertain terms that the people of Bengal did not need a government that divides people based on their religion, caste or creed nor do they need a government that indulges in looting the common people. He said Bengal needs a government that will work for the welfare of the poorest of the poor, the exploited, and the marginalised people.

THE 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress that was tabled by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development recently throws light on the alarming rise in homelessness in advanced capitalist countries. According to the report, there was a 7 per cent increase in the number of homeless people staying outdoors and a 13 per cent increase in the number of unsheltered families in the US during the previous year. It estimates that the homeless population in California alone was 161,548 as of January 2020.

WITH dates for elections to the West Bengal state assembly having been declared, the manifesto of the Left Front was released by the chairman of the Left Front, Biman Basu, in the presence of other Front leaders. These elections are being held in the backdrop of a year which was marred by a pandemic against which the entire human race is fighting a grim battle. The past year is also marked by a lockdown which was thrust upon the unsuspecting masses and which ruined lives and livelihoods of crores of people of this country.