Below we publish the statement issued by the Central Trade Unions – INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC – on August 25AFTER the announcement on August 18, 2020, by the civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri that his ministry would place a proposal for further privatisation of airports before the union cabinet, the cabinet rubber stamped the proposal for leasing out three airports – Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram – through public private partnership (PPP), on August 19.

THERE is a commonly-held view that the current crisis in capitalism, which has resulted in a massive output contraction and increase in unemployment, is because of the pandemic; and that once the pandemic gets over, things will go back to “normal”.This view is entirely erroneous for two reasons. The first which has been often discussed in this column, has to do with the fact that even before the pandemic the world economy was slowing down. In fact ever since the financial crisis of 2008 following the collapse of the housing bubble, the real economy of the world had never fully recovered.

After the Communist Party was allowed to function legally, for the first time since its formation, it organised a Convention of Party cadre working in the Trade Union front (AITUC in the main, but also other trade unions). Around 300 comrades attended this two-day convention held in Calcutta, in 1952, where the Party’s approach to the workers’ issues and methods to be adopted while working in the TU front were discussed, decided and certain directions were given.

Below we publish the statement issued by the signatories to the Gupkar Declaration – Farooq Abdullah, JKNC; Mehbooba Mufti, JKPDP; G A Mir, JKPCC; M Y Tarigami, CPI(M); Sajad Gani Lone, JKPC and Muzaffar Shah, JKANC.       THE signatories to the Gupkar Declaration of August 4, 2019 have barely managed to establish basic level of communication with each other, in the face of a series of prohibitive and punitive curbs imposed by the government, aimed at impeding all social and political interactions.

THE state committee of CPI(M), Bihar met online on August 7. The meeting was addressed by Polit Bureau member Hannan Mollah. He highlighted the main developments in the international and national arena and underlined the superiority of socialist system which has come to the fore during the coronavirus pandemic.