ON March 15, at the call of the Central Trade Unions and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, joint protests were held outside hundreds of railway stations against the BJP led union government’s drive for the privatisation of public sector assets, against corporatisation of agriculture through the farm laws, and against the massive rise in diesel, petrol and gas prices. These actions were held all over the country. Pamphlets detailing the harmful effects of these anti-people policies of the government, were handed out to the commuters at the railway stations.

WITH the cabinet approving amendments to the Insurance Act of 1938, to raise the cap on foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance companies from 49 to 74 per cent, the process of implementing the next stage of reducing public control over Indian insurance has begun.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on March 13IT is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has opened the way for a re-examination of the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991. The Act mandates that the character of all religious places of worship should be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947, and no suit or proceedings shall lie in a court of law with respect to the character of places of worship.This effectively barred courts from entertaining cases which raise disputes over places of worship that existed as of August 15, 1947.

CPI(M) had announced the names of three more candidates for the upcoming Kerala assembly elections. A list of 83 candidates was already announced by A Vijayaraghavan, CPI(M) state secretary in-charge on March 10, which was published in the last issue of People’s Democracy . Candidates for Manjeshwaram and Devikulam – V V Rameshan and A Raja – have been announced now.

AMIDST the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent series of sporadic lockdowns, the loss of lives and livelihoods in West Bengal have exposed the inherent economic crises that the state’s economy is undergoing. The massive influx of poor migrant workers returning back to the state, seeking help and support from the authorities, has become an unfortunate reality in recent times.