CPI(M)  Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on October 17, 2019THE JNU authorities have ordered that the office of the JNU Students Union should be vacated. This is the latest and flagrant attempt to suppress the elected student body.The university authorities had refused to notify the union for the previous year 2018-19 too. This is being done despite the judicial scrutiny which legitimised the election to the JNU Students Union this year, where students have participated in very large numbers.

PORTUGAL, Austria and Poland had elections to their respective parliaments recently. While the Social Democrats were victorious in Portugal, Conservatives won in Austria and Poland. A noteworthy feature is the decrease in the vote share of the far-right party in Austria, a coalition partner of the Conservatives in the previous government; the entry of Left into Polish parliament and the marginal setback to the Left parties in Portugal.In Austria, the ruling Conservative Austrian People's Party won 37.5 per cent of the votes, retaining power.

THE Bank Employees Federation of India(BEFI) has stated that the interest rate cuts will not reverse the slowdown presently witnessed in the country. Reacting to the bimonthly policy statement of the RBI released on October 4, the BEFI issued the statement.The BEFI has stated, “Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of Reserve Bank of India, on  October 4 has reduced the key bank rate or the rate at which the RBI lends to banks for the fifth time in a row since February, till now by 1.35 per cent bringing it to 5.15 per cent and intends to continue further cuts to revive growth in the economy.

WOMEN activists from the Left progressive parties and movements gathered at Essen, Germany last month in the Feminist Futures Festival organised by Rosa Luxemburg Stiflung to share their experiences about their struggles when combating the right-wing forces in their respective countries and discuss strategies and ideas for an international networking to strengthen this movement. The participants included women from the continents of Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America.

THE Centre of Indian Trade Union, in a statement issued on October 12, has expressed its grief at the demise of Comrade R Srinivas, vice president of Karnataka state CITU. He passed away on October 11, 2019 at Bangalore due to massive heart attack while attending a meeting.Comrade Srinivas was the leader of CITU union in BPL who has led the historic strike in 1998. He was victimised and implicated in a false case by the management for which he was sentenced for life imprisonment. He had spent more than 16 years in jail and was released only in 2016.