MAHARASHTRA witnessed four massive actions in the last three weeks. The first was the response to the nationwide working-class strike and the nationwide peasant upsurge on November 26. The second was the solidarity action to support the fighting farmers of Punjab and Haryana at the Delhi border on December 3. The third was the overwhelming response to the Bharat Bandh on December 8 in support of the farmer’s struggle.
ONCE upon a time, not too long ago, there existed many villages where present-day North Delhi is situated. Those villages were neither relocated nor vanished by a catastrophe.
THE kisan agitation has become more than simply a fight for MSP or against the corporatisation of agriculture. Through its practice, it is recovering a narrative that is opposed to the hegemonic narrative promoted under neo-liberalism. And as the Modi government’s skulduggery for breaking the movement intensifies in the coming days, this recovery will become more and more comprehensive, clear-cut, and oppositional.
THE historic nationwide farmers struggle that began on November 26 entered the fourth week on December 17. It was intensified and broadened even further after the unprecedented support that was expressed by the people of India through the Bharat Bandh on December 8.For the first time since the neo-liberal policies began three decades ago, all sections of the peasantry have united as never before against the three Farm Acts, against the rapacious corporate lobby, both Indian and foreign, and against the BJP-RSS central government that is acting as their servile agent.
THE growing unity among the various agrarian classes is clearly visible in the ongoing farmers’ struggle. The enduring agrarian crisis that had taken a toll of over five lakh peasant suicides (since 1995) due to indebtedness is the major factor that ensures consolidation of the peasant classes against the neo-liberal policies.
WITH the rampant spread of Covid-19, people were seriously worried over getting the required medical and health services. Non-availability of beds in government hospitals and heavy charges collected by private nursing homes left the patients and their families in depression and disarray. In this background, some well-wishers mooted the idea of running an isolation centre under the aegis of Makineni Basavapunnaiah Vignana Kendram (MBVK) Trust. The trust committee discussed and decided to start a Covid isolation centre in the premises of newly constructed Balotsav Bhavan at Vijayawada.
FROM February 23 to 29, 2020, communal violence swept north east district of Delhi shocking the whole country with its savagery. Fifty-four persons lost their lives, several hundred people were injured, hundreds of homes, shops, schools and vehicles and even religious places were set ablaze or destroyed, while thousands fled the area.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on December 16, 2020THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) congratulates and salutes the people of Kerala for giving the Left Democratic Front in Kerala a big victory in the local body elections. The LDF has won a big majority in all three tiers of the panchayats.
THE Local Self-Governing Institutions (LSGI) elections in Kerala have resulted in a resounding victory for the Left Democratic Front. The LDF has won 11 out of the 14 district panchayats; 108 of the 152 block panchayats; and 514 of the 941 grama panchayats. The LDF has won five of the six corporations and 35 of the 86 municipalities.It is significant that the LDF has improved overall upon the success it registered in the 2015 elections, five years ago.
A VIRTUAL Climate Ambition Summit attended by around 70 government leaders was held on December 12, 2020 on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement (PA).