ON December 16, the leaders of various political parties in parliament, in a letter addressed to the prime minister, had condemned the government action in cancelling the FCRA registration of NGOs critical of its policies. The licenses had been earlier renewed showing that in the normal course these NGOs had fulfilled the criteria required for registration.
The coordination committee of minority cultural groups organized a seminar on ‘Uniform Civil Code and the Left’ in Kannur on December 20. Addressing the seminar CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat said the BJP is using the issue of Uniform Civil Code as a weapon to obliterate the identity of Muslims in the country and that the fundamentalist position insisting that instant and arbitrary triple ‘talaq’ is ordained by Islam will help communalists create a communal divide in the country.
“Everyone aspires to visit Kashmir studded with breathtaking mountains, lakes, rivers and orchards at least once in life. But present day rulers are forgetting that Kashmir, heaven of natural beauty, is also inhabited by people. Muslims, Sikhs, Bouddhas and Hindus were all living in complete harmony in Kashmir before 1947. In fact, Kashmiri people had given the notice of quit Kashmir to British rulers much before independence. Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu Kashmir intended to keep Kashmir an independent state and therefore, kept touch with rulers of both India and Pakistan as well.
The Left Democratic Front will organise, on December 29, a 700-km-long human chain extending from the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram to the northernmost Kasargode to protest the demonetisation drive which has crippled the state's cooperative banking sector.A statement issued by the Communist Party of India(Marxist) said that it has directed all the Left Democratic Front cadres and supporters to see that they arrive at their designated places by 4 pm and by 5 pm they all should stand with their hands held together ."The human chain will basically be staged on the national highway from here
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury addressed a joint meeting of the Association of Indian Communists (AIC) and Indian Workers’ Association (IWA) in Leicester, the UK, on December 18. In his opening remarks, Yechury covered a whole range of international political developments, with emphasis on the prevailing situation in India and Britain.
TEN years ago in December 2006, the historic “Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights Act) (FRA) was adopted by parliament.
Makineni Basavapunnaiah Vignana Kendram, a centre created to build unity among people and to serve as a venue to promote art and culture, was inaugurated in Vijayawada on December 13. MBVK has facilities to serve as a cultural centre. It has a 650-seat capacity auditorium, which would be in reach of everyone. It will serve as a centre where discussions, seminars, debates on issues concerning public would be held. It also has a huge library.CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury inaugurated the Makineni Basavapunnaiah Vignana Kendram.
THE secretariat of CITU, which met in New Delhi on December 19-20 has called upon the working people to voice their protest through holding country wide massive demonstrations on January 3, 2017 against the so-called demonetisation drive of the BJP led government at the centre, which has imposed serious hardships upon the workers, particularly those in the unorganised sector, on the farmers, on the small business people, small traders and street vendors etc.
THEY are away from their families and support systems and live in a state whose language they cannot speak. Thousands of migrant workers from Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Orissa and Bengal are today stranded in Hyderabad without money in the wake of prime minister's demonetisation drive. There are about 30,000 migrant workers in and around Hyderabad in the construction sector, working under contractor and supervisors for big and small construction companies. Their wages are usually paid fortnightly or monthly.
THE All India Kisan Sabha and the All India Agricultural Workers Union, in a statement issued on December 22 have appealed the peasantry and agricultural workers to join in the protest at taluk headquarters all over the country on December 28-29, 2017, the 50th and the 51st day after the announcement of demonetisation. AIKS and AIAWU activists in Kerala will join the Human Chain called by the Left and Democratic Front on December 29. The cash crunch imposed undemocratically on the peasants and rural labourers by the prime minister has thrown them in chaos and misery.