THE All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), in a statement issued on November 14, has expressed deep shock and strongly condemned the killing of yet another farmer, Ummar Khan, by cow vigilantes in Alwar, Rajasthan. He and two other farmers, Tahir Khan and Javed Khan had purchased cows in a village near Jaipur. When they were returning after buying the cattle, after passing Ramgad, they were attacked in a village called Gahankar. Six or seven vigilante goons who came in a white Tata Sumo car, attacked them and started firing at them.

TEN years ago, at the International Meeting of the Communist and Workers Parties (IMCWP), we had suggested in the Working Group in Minsk, capital of Belarus, that a meeting in the year of the centenary of the October Revolution must be held in Moscow hosted by the Communist Party of Russian Federation (CPRF).While this was almost unanimously accepted, the CPRF was initially hesitant whether they would be in a position to organise this event given the fact that almost all the Communist and Workers Parties in the world would inevitably converge in Moscow for this centenary.

THE Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is going to introduce a ranking system for Kendriya Vidyalayas in June next year, according to media reports. While the stated objective for the reported move is to “improve quality”, the ploy is to cut down on government spending and privatise school education. Educationists have warned against such a move. If private schools are later included in the ranking system, schools run and aided by governments may be left behind, which will ultimately encourage people to send their wards to private schools.

Protesting against the ruination of the Indian economy and the livelihood conditions of the vast majority of our people due to demonetisation, the Left parties observed a `Protest Day’ across the country against the economic policies pursued by the BJP governments at the centre and the states, on November 8. Above is the photo of the protest held in New Delhi.