CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued  the following statement on May 15THE much-awaited second tranche of the Rs 20-lakh crore financial package regarding the migrant workers, farmers and the poor has turned out to be a cruel hoax. The finance minister’s speech made false claims of what the central government had done to help people.Not a single paisa is being transferred from the government to any of the worst effected sections of our people, specifically migrant workers, street vendors, domestic workers, fishing workers etc.

THE Second Congress of the Communist Party was held in Calcutta, February 28-March 6, 1948, five years after the first Congress. These five years were years of great trials and struggles for the Communist Party, years through which despite slander and opposition, despite brutal repression, it had grown in stature as a leading revolutionary force in India.632 delegates attended the Congress, straight from the numerous battlefields scattered all over India, where the toiling masses of the country were fighting for a truly independent and democratic India.

DONALD Trump launched a new vaccine war this week, but not against the virus. It was against the world. The US and UK were only two hold-outs in the World Health Assembly on the declaration that vaccines and medicines for Covid-19 should be available as public good, and not under exclusive patent rights.  Having badly botched his Covid-19 response, he is trying to redeem his electoral fortunes in the November elections this year by promising an early vaccine.

THE Covid-19 pandemic has brought out the stark inadequacy and abysmal neglect of the public health system in India.  Even after 50 days of the lockdown, the Modi government seems to have not learnt from the experience of tackling the deadly virus.  In state after state, government hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of patients and the lack of treatment facilities.  The state of government hospitals in the hotspot of Mumbai provides a grim illustration. The Modi government displays a smug satisfaction by turning a blind eye to the actual state of affairs.

SUNDARAYYA Skill Development Centre, a three-storied building in the capital region of Andhra Pradesh has been turned into a shelter for migrant workers. This building at Vaddeswaram has become a shelter for 47 migrant workers belonging to Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of AP, bordering Odisha. Due to lockdown, these workers lost their livelihood and decided to go back to their native places in AP. They were coming from Chennai on foot as there was no travel facility.