The working class of the country is poised to go on a general strike on September 2. This will be the seventeenth general strike since liberalisation began in 1991. In the 25 years of liberalisation, these 17 strikes are a manifestation of the big resistance put up by the workers against the neo-liberal offensive.The strike is being called for a 12-point charter of demands which consist of all the major issues which concern the working people. They include the demand to curb price rise and strengthen the public distribution system; no dilution of labour laws; halting the privatisation an
As a firm expression of commitment towards the working class in the state, the LDF government led by CPI(M) has reopened cashew factories that were closed down during the UDF government’s rule. Cashew workers are in a festive mood as the factories under the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation and Kerala Cashew Workers Apex Industrial Cooperative Society (Capex) resumed functioning.Cashew industry is a major traditional industry in the state.
In the midst of corporate celebrations of 25th year of neo-liberalism in the country, the working class all over the country, with support from peasants, agricultural workers and others is now fully prepared for another countrywide general strike on September 2.The struggle, which began in 1991, is entering into an important phase, with various sections of working people joining the working class protest actions.The first phase of this struggle was from 1991 to 2008, when not all the central trade unions were together in this struggle in which large number of independent national level fede
Question: Some social activists and intellectuals have written to the CPI(M) to take steps to forge the unity of all secular and democratic forces in Uttar Pradesh to fight the BJP in the forthcoming assembly elections. They have also appealed to small parties not to put up candidates which can divide the anti-BJP vote. What is the Party’s response to this appeal?--Rakesh Singh, DelhiAnswer: The outcome of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, which is the biggest state in the country, is naturally of political importance.
SENIOR trade union leader, R Sreenivas was released on August 16, after spending 16 years of jail life in Bangalore Central Prison in the ‘BPL Case’. ‘BPL Case’ continues to be an iconic case in the contemporary history of the trade union movement in the post-liberalisation period.4000 workers worked in the ten industrial units of the BPL on the outskirts of Bangalore. There was no union in the factory until 1998, when workers organised under the banner of BPL Group of Companies Karmikara Sangha, affiliated to CITU.
THE government of West Bengal has adopted a vindictive and hostile attitude towards the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, both being run by the opposition parties led by the CPI(M). The TMC-led government has unleashed a systematic economic blockade against the two civic bodies since they decisively failed to win a majority there. The PWD of the state government, chaired by Firhad Hakim, has withheld the legitimate dues that these civic bodies are entitled to.
ON September 2, 2016, crores of workers across the country will go on strike demanding an end to the all-round attack launched by the government against their lives, livelihood and dignity. Representing the interests of the big capitalists, both domestic and foreign, the Modi government has been trying to fool the working people with false promises even as it supports and actively imposes a policy that is snatching away jobs, looting family budgets, disarming workers of their rights and opening the doors to harsher exploitation.
Farmers have to make arrangements for crops before arrival of a season. But the Telangana government made plans to grab soon-to-be-cultivated lands by bringing them under the Telanganaku Haritha Haram programme. Police and forest department officials threatened farmers and occupied their lands in many areas. The government began planting saplings on podu lands and attacked the cultivators who tried to hold onto their lands. To oppose the government move, Adivasis and the poor have formed land protection committee in every village.
The central government’s decision to allow up to 74 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) as brownfield investment in the domestic pharmaceutical companies for their acquisition by the foreign firms through the automatic route has serious implications for the development of pharmaceutical industry and public health in India.
THE new academic year has begun in Indian universities with signals of authoritarian highhandedness in different forms. The beginning of any academic activity is supposed to be fear free and must be in an atmosphere of freedom. However, the news coming from campuses from EFLU to JNU, situated in diverse locations in the country offer stern warnings regarding what is in store for the new students.