Peasant Conference in Kathmandu

The South Asian Peasants Convergence (SAPC) on Food Sovereignty and Peasants Rights held at Kathmandu, Nepal on February 2-3, 2017, was attended by over 100 delegates from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It was hosted by the All Nepal Peasants Federation (ANPFa), an umbrella association of Nepali peasants fighting against feudalism, imperialism and neoliberalism that was founded in 1951. With the ushering in of the Democratic Republic of Nepal the organisation has expanded in keeping with the evolution of peasant consciousness and struggles.

The week in parliament

The second week of the Budget Session started with the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, wherein all the opposition parties slammed the government’s decision of demonetisation which has resulted in job losses, economic slowdown, agricultural distress and overall misery for the people.Speaking on this in the Rajya Sabha, Sitaram Yechury said demonetisation is the biggest disruption that has happened to the country. It has disrupted the normal existence of a vast majority of the people and their day-to-day livelihood.

Vemulaghat Struggle Reaches 250th Day

TelanganaRelay hunger strike launched by the farmers and other people affected under the proposed Mallannasagar reservoir at Vemulaghat village in Toguta Mandal of Siddipet district reached its 250th day on the February 9. This determined struggle of the people affected under the Mallannasagar reservoir, which is a part of larger Kaleswaram project with a storage capacity of 50 tmc ft water going on near the farm house of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, has been supported by the CPI(M), several other political parties and mass organisations.

Scheme Workers Stage Protest in Jammu

Workers of various central government schemes including ASHA, Anganwadi and Mid-day Meal and those employed in contingency work staged a day-long protest in Jammu on January 20 in support of their long-pending demands. Hundreds of such workers from different districts of Jammu region participated in the protest. All workers holding red flags and placards in their hands raised slogans demanding minimum wage of Rs 18,000 per month and social security benefits.

DYFI Conference Resolves to Fight for Employment, Secularism and Democracy

Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) held its 10th all India conference in Kochi, Kerala from February 1-5, 2017 resolving to build widest possible unity of progressive youth in the country and fight for employment, secularism and democracy. 680 delegates representing one crore 15 lakh members assembled for the conference. Six delegates representing fraternal foreign youth organisations also participated.The conference was preceded by three jathas. One jatha carrying the torch to be lit at the conference venue started from martyrs’ memorial at Koothuparamba in Kannur district.

Tripura CITU Conference Calls for Defeating Enemies of Unity, Peace and Development

The enemies of unity, peace and development have again started using their fangs to create fissures among the people, disturb the peaceful atmosphere prevailing here, and sabotage the ongoing innumerable developmental activities throughout the state.

Thinking Together

What is the CPI(M)’s position on the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016?Is it not a gross violation of the concept of citizenship which should not be defined by religion?S Choudhury, HyderabadThe Citizenship Amendment Bill now being considered by a Joint Select Committee of Parliament seeks to provide citizenship to people who suffer religious prosecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. This would cover Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Parsis who are religious minorities in these countries. The basic aim of the amendment is objectionable.

Decree on Peace

The Bolsheviks under Lenin’s leadership had opposed the participation of Tsarist Russia in the First World War. Lenin had declared the war to be an “imperialist war” which had destroyed the lives of millions of workers who were drafted by the imperialist governments in Europe as soldiers to fight the war.Unlike the Social democrats of various European countries, the Bolsheviks opposed the war and called for an end to the conflict.

MPs Write to PM against Scrapping of Dalit and Adivasi Plan

On February 9, 2017, 26 MPs, cutting across parties barring the BJP, have written a letter to the prime minister to restore the Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP). The current budget had discontinued SCP and TSP and replaced it with allocations for welfare for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).

Differing Concepts of Populism

The same term is often employed by different people with different meanings, and this can be a source of immense confusion. The World Bank has done this to good effect in the past, taking over terms that are being used in a particular sense, especially by the Left, and using them in a very different sense, in order to create deliberate confusion and exploit in some way the sympathetic feeling that the term had attracted from people in its initial usage. “Structural adjustment” is a prime example of such appropriation by the World Bank.

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