CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on March 13IT is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has opened the way for a re-examination of the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991. The Act mandates that the character of all religious places of worship should be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947, and no suit or proceedings shall lie in a court of law with respect to the character of places of worship.This effectively barred courts from entertaining cases which raise disputes over places of worship that existed as of August 15, 1947.
CPI(M) had announced the names of three more candidates for the upcoming Kerala assembly elections. A list of 83 candidates was already announced by A Vijayaraghavan, CPI(M) state secretary in-charge on March 10, which was published in the last issue of People’s Democracy . Candidates for Manjeshwaram and Devikulam – V V Rameshan and A Raja – have been announced now.
THE All India Insurance Employees’ Association (AIIEA) and other unions in the four public sector general insurance companies will go on a nationwide strike on March 17. Similarly, all unions in LIC will strike work on March 18, 2021. These strike actions are to protest against the decision of the government to list LIC in the stock markets through an IPO, increase FDI limits in the sector from 49 per cent to 74 per cent and privatise one public sector general insurance company.
AMIDST the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent series of sporadic lockdowns, the loss of lives and livelihoods in West Bengal have exposed the inherent economic crises that the state’s economy is undergoing. The massive influx of poor migrant workers returning back to the state, seeking help and support from the authorities, has become an unfortunate reality in recent times.
AROUND a million bank employees and officers went on a two-day strike on March 15 and 16 all over the country against the privatisation of public sector banks.
AN Innovative Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system developed indigenously by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration with a consortium of several private and public sector companies led by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) acting as the Lead System Integrator, passed a crucial test of its land-based prototype on March 8, 2021.
CPI(M) DELHI state committee outrightly rejects the undemocratic and authoritarian takeover of Delhi administration by the BJP led central government through four amendments brought to the Government of NCT of Delhi Act 1991 through a bill slated to be placed in the Lok Sabha. The bill in the pretext of giving clarity to the Supreme Court order of July 4, 2018, and February 14, 2019, goes against its spirit as it had upheld that the lieutenant governor is bound by the ‘aid and advice of the popularly elected government.
TWO noteworthy reports were brought out by the Karnataka Evaluation Authority, an official body working under the Karnataka state government, recently. One evaluates the impact of mid-day meal schemes in Karnataka and (while finding that the scheme was working well in the state) reports that for an alarming number (approximately 2.1 lakh) of children covered by the study, the school lunch was their first meal of the day; for some of them, it was also their only meal.
Bhagat Singh had made the following statement in the court after they had thrown bombs in the Assembly, on April 8, 1929:“Producers and workers are the most important section of society, but the exploiting class loots their hard-earned income and also keeps them bereft of basic rights. Farmers, who grow food for everyone, die of hunger along with their families, weavers who weave cloth for the world do not have enough to clothe their children, carpenters, blacksmiths and masons who build grand palaces are forced to live in slums themselves.