MORE than three crore road transport workers in state-transport, private passenger transport, goods transport and small passenger transport like auto, taxi etc., have staged a magnificent strike action throughout the country on August 7. This strike was to voice their protest against the draconian Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill (MVAB) which is still pending for enactment by parliament. The draconian bill presented by the Modi government is a design for paving the way for destruction of State-owned public transport corporations.

THE AIKS and CITU have congratulated the people of the country, especially the workers and the farmers, for their overwhelming response to the August 9 Jail Bharo movement. It was expected that over 20 lakh people will participate, but the reports received at the centre as we go to the press show that the number may increase the targeted figure.

CPI(M) West Bengal state secretary Suryakant Misra in a  statement  issued on July 30, has demanded that all citizens residing in Assam should be enlisted in NRC.He said people of West Bengal are concerned about developments in Assam. It is doubtful whether the statement of the West Bengal chief minister in this regard is actually aimed to address this concern. The role of TMC in the past on citizenship issue is one reason for this doubt.

AGRICULTURAL workers play an important role in agricultural production, of food as well as commercial crops. They make up the largest share of all working people in our country. According to the last Census in 2011 there were 14.43 crore agricultural workers in India. This is about one third of our country’s workforce and 55 percent of the rural workforce. With continuing agrarian crisis, large numbers of small and marginal farmers are compelled to abandon cultivation and join the ranks of agricultural workers. Thus, their number has been rising steadily every year.

THE proposal to eliminate the University Grants Commission and to tighten political control over the higher education system in India, has been mooted at the behest of Narendra Modi who is apparently concerned about the dearth of Indian names among the top-ranked universities in the world. This concern is not confined to Modi alone; it is shared by large numbers of persons in the country’s political establishment, and by many in the general public.