THOUSANDS of farmers under the banner of Himachal Pradesh Kisan Sabha (affiliated to AIKS) marched to Shimla and had a massive protest at the state secretariat on April 5, seeking redressal of the burning problems of the peasantry. Over five thousand farmers from across Himachal Pradesh joined the protest. Braving heavy rain they marched determined to fight for their legitimate rights.The peasantry in the state are in extreme distress due to the anti-peasant policies of the Congress-led state government as well as BJP-led central government and the demonetisation move has hit them hard.

MAHATMA Jotirao Phule had written a celebrated book that was aptly called “Shetkaryacha Aasood” (whipcord of the farmer). The Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has begun an Aasood Yatra throughout the state from April 11. The date is historic for three reasons: it is the 190th birth anniversary of Mahatma Phule; it is the death anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji, whom Phule had hailed as the king of the peasantry; and it is the 81st foundation day of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

SOME weeks ago when the official “quick estimates” of GDP for the third quarter of 2016-17 (October-December) had been released, putting the GDP growth in this quarter (over the corresponding quarter of 2015-16) at 7 percent, which broadly conformed to the CSO’s prediction before demonetisation, a veritable chorus had gone up that the critics of demonetisation had been proved wrong, that the measure did not have the recessionary effect they had claimed it would.The fact that this growth estimate was spurious, produced at the behest of the BJP government which specialises in “post-truths”, w

Cuban parliamentary delegation headed by the senior parliamentary leader and politician, Yolanda Ferrer Gomez, president of the International Relation Commission of the National Assembly and consisting of Lazaro Barredo Medina, member of the International Relation Commission of the National Assembly, Surina Acosta Brooks, member of the International Relation Commission of the National Assembly, in charge of youth and children and the rights for women and Dr Jesus Rafael Mora Gonzalez, official of the International Relation Commission of the National Assembly had visited India in March.

AT a moment when the ideals and events of our national movement seem to be fading from public memory, it is gratifying, indeed, that there should be celebrations in this country of the centenary of one of the most remarkable episodes of modern Indian history, the Champaran Satyagraha of 1917.Ever since Plessey (1757) British rule had meant a constant exploitation of India, the main burden of which had fallen on its peasants, artisans and the labouring poor.