THE utter failure of the central government to provide meaningful relief to the tens of crores of our people who have lost their jobs and livelihoods following the lockdown imposed by it in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic is by now well documented. The CPI(M) and other Left parties  had put forward concrete proposals for providing immediate relief to the people as well as for reviving the economy and putting the country on a path of self- reliant development.

General JN Chowdhury of the Indian army boasted that ‘within six weeks he would liquidate communists all over the Hyderabad State.’ Accordingly, some unofficial estimates indicate that the government of India spent as much money and resources in Hyderabad then, as it had spent in its war with Pakistan over the issue of Kashmir during the years 1947-48. Even then, it failed to ‘liquidate communists’ in the Telangana region.

THE Supreme Court has finally passed the desired judgement, though too late, on the travel of migrant workers back to their homes. The SC has ordered that the centre and the state governments must ensure that within 15 days the migrant workers reach their destination. So far so good.The period since the lockdown began, there have been gory stories of migrant workers; their tales of unprecedented agony, trauma and deaths of many while travelling back to their home states and villages; this in itself speaks volumes of the government’s failure.

A JOINT meeting of the central leadership of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), All India Agricultural Workers’ Union (AIAWU) and Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) was held on June 9 to discuss the current acute distress and growing economic crisis in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The meeting concluded that instead of taking effective measures to contain the pandemic, the BJP government is aggressively trying to centralise entire governance through authoritarian measures and fascistic intent.

THE petrol and diesel prices have been hiked daily for eleven successive days from June 7 to 17.  By these hikes, the retail price of petrol has increased by Rs 6.02 per litre and diesel by Rs 6.40 per litre. These daily hikes by the oil companies, at the behest of the government, have come at a time when the economy is contracting and demand is at an all-time low with unprecedented levels of unemployment and loss of incomes and livelihoods.The Modi government’s policy of making petrol and diesel costlier is actually taking away money from people’s hands at a time when they desperately need