THE 15th state conference of the Democratic Youth Federation of India’s Kerala unit was held from April 27-30, at Bhagat Singh Nagar in Pathanamthitta. The state conference concluded on April 30 with a huge public meeting.Inaugurating the public meeting, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Brinda Karat made an appeal to the people across the country to come forward against the bulldozer raj unleashed by the BJP. She said the bulldozer is not a mere machine right now; it has become a symbol of destruction.

RUSSIA and Ukraine together account for 30 per cent of the world’s wheat exports. Many African countries, in particular, are heavily dependent on them for their food supplies, which are now getting disrupted because of the war; and this disruption would continue since the war is also affecting the acreage being sown under foodgrains there. Ukraine alone accounts for about 20 per cent of the world’s maize exports which again are under threat, endangering food availability in several vulnerable countries.

THE World Press Freedom Day, as proclaimed by the United Nations, was observed on May 3. Coinciding with this, the World Press Freedom Index was published by the Reporters without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres). India’s ranking in the index fell from 142 in 2021 to 150 this year, out of 180 countries. In 2016, India had been ranked 133.

THE Modi government has taken another retrograde step regarding the Indian army.

THIS 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its deep concern over the growing atrocities and injustices against dalits in many parts of the country.  These have increased and assumed new dimensions after the BJP came to power at the centre. Unfortunately in the recent period the judiciary is also sometimes giving judgments and making pronouncements that are inimical to the principles of social justice and affirmative action.Under the BJP government, the pace of the implementation of neoliberal policies gathered pace and budgetary allocations for SC welfare are cut