In the forested plateau of Santhal Pargana in Jharkhand, a vast and violent transformation is underway. Beneath the hills and agricultural lands of this region lie some of the most valuable coal reserves in eastern India. Over the past two decades, these deposits have been opened to extraction through the development of the three adjacent blocks in the Pachwara coal belt situated in the Rajmahal Coalfield spanning the Pakur-Dumka region. The blocks are called Pachwara North, Pachwara Central, and Pachwara South.

Aspirational India with a huge increase in the educated population ironically seems to be adding jobs in agriculture in the recent past! The ‘demographic dividend’ as it is often referred to, with a higher proportion of working age people within the total population, is going to be over by 2030; thereafter the share of the young is likely to decline after reaching its peak. At its peak, the share of the working age population will be more than double the dependent population.

The Left Front has demanded free, fair, and peaceful conduct of the TTAADC elections and the by-election to the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency. Last week, leaders of the Tripura Left Front Committee met separately with the State Election Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to press these demands. This was stated by Left Front Convenor Manik Dey at a press conference.

Farmers, jhum cultivators, and agricultural labourers have warned the authoritarian BJP-led alliance government in Tripura of a bigger struggle ahead, declaring that they will not retreat from the streets. On March 18, they demonstrated a determined and intense resistance against what they described as a fascist BJP government. Despite deploying the police, the government failed to stop the united surge of poor and working people.

In a packed hall in Harkisan Singh Surjeet Bhawan, New Delhi, on 29 March, activists from Left parties and mass organizations, journalists, academics, diplomats, and a substantial number of students and youth had turned up to discuss and deliberate on “Imperialist Aggression & Its Impact.” The seminar, which was held by the Coalition Against Imperialism, was a timely reminder of the danger posed to humanity by imperialism and the perils of staying silent.