LAKHS OF WORKERS STAND UP & DEMAND: Hollow Speeches Don’t Ring: ACT NOWHemalataLAKHS of workers and other toiling people stood up at thousands of locations covering most of the districts in the country – in front of their homes, on their balconies or roof tops, work places, on the main roads and small by lanes – placards and flags in hands. At 10.30 in the morning of April 21, they stood, maintaining physical distance and shouted slogans voicing their demands, for 5-10 minutes.

COMRADE V I Lenin’s 150th birth anniversary was observed in the Party central office at Delhi on April 22. Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the CPI(M) placed flowers at the bust of Lenin in the office premises.

DURING the post-war period, late in 1946, the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha decided that a movement should be launched on the basis of the demand for the Tebhaga, that is to say, two-thirds share for the bargadar. Thus, while the discussions with the Cabinet Mission and other political developments were taking place, the tide of the Tebhaga movement in Bengal was rising high.The peasants in Bengal had been raising the slogan of reducing the share of the landowners.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, urged union minister Ram Vilas Paswan to release the 54.3 million tonnes of food grain stock lying with the Food Corporation of India free to the poor through the Public Distribution System (PDS). In a letter written to the food and public distribution minister on April 19, she condemned the government’s move to sell the food grain stock to NGOs for relief work, at high prices during this crisis period.“The government has, as on April 7, 54.2 million tonnes of foodgrains in storage which is far above the required buffer stock.

IN Kotarang, Hind Motors area in Hooghly, peoples’ kitchens are a saviour for hundreds of families in this difficult period of lock down. One such kitchen, run by DYFI activists serve lunch to around 500 people. Initially DYFI activists were distributing rice, pulses, salt to houses. They felt that some families would literally face starvation after some days. Most of them are house maids, cobblers and van drivers. The strategy was changed and a list of 122 families was prepared and coupons were distributed. DYFI activists distributed coupons to these families in the evening.