CASES were filed against pesticide companies and Krishi Seva Kendras in the Vidarbha region after almost 35 farmers died from inhaling chemicals that were sprayed on BT cotton crops.In the span of three months several hundred farmers were hospitalised, out of which more than 40 are in critical condition.Kishore Tiwari, chief of Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission (Maharashtra state-run task force to address farmer distress), said, “After 18 farmers died due to pesticide poisoning in Yavatmal district, deaths were also registered in Akola, Amravati, Buldana, Nagpur and Bhandara districts
IN a letter written to Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, on October 8,The Dalit Shoshan Mukthi Manch has congratulated the government of Kerala for appointing priests belonging to dalit and other backward communities to various temples of Kerala. DSMM congratulated the chief minister and the state government for taking this path-breaking initiative, which will serve as a model for the entire country. Nowhere in the country such a radical step has been taken to eradicate the caste system and reduce the discrimination that the dalits face.
On October 8, 1967, Che Guevara was killed by CIA backed Bolivian armed forces. Fidel Castro led a huge Memorial Rally in Havana on October 18, 1967 and paid tributes to the martyr. Below we publish the excerpts from his speech.
MASS organisations in West Bengal are preparing for a massive campaign-agitation march, raising the demands of all sections of people. The march, like jathas, will actually consist of numerous local level marches, culminating into district and region-wise longer marches and finally merging into massive public meetings. More than 100 mass organisations, including trade unions, peasants’ organisations, student-youth-women organisations and representative organisations of different sections of people will participate in the march under the banner of Bengal Platform of Mass Organisations.
MADHU Garg, Malti Devi, Seema Rana (state president, general secretary and joint secretary of AIDWA Uttar Pradesh committee) and I visited Varanasi on October 4-5. After the tremendous agitation launched by the women students against the apathy of the Banaras Hindu University administration towards rampant sexual harassment on the campus and the brutal attack on them by the police on the night of September 23, the university had been abruptly shut. It re-opened on the 2nd and we went to meet students and faculty members.The UP government and the district administration continue to view an
Below we publish the message of greetings sent by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held from October 18 in Beijing.DEAR Comrades,The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) conveys its warm fraternal greetings to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.This 19th Congress will review the party’s work over the past five years and summarize precious experiences that the party has gained from the historical process of uniting and leading people of all ethnic group
MORE than 200 participants from 60 countries representing five continents, including India, gathered at an International Solidarity Summit held in Caracas from September 16-19, 2017 in defense of the Venezuelan people and the Bolivarian revolution, and to denounce the attempts of the US administration to stifle the country by imposing financial sanctions, as also Trump’s direct threat of war against Venezuela just a few weeks back. The Venezuelan people have been bravely resisting attacks on their sovereignty by US imperialism, and the reactionary oligarchy in the country that has been open
DONALD Trump on the campaign trail was an avowed anti-interventionist. He had kept on repeating that the American led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular were ill advised and a costly drain on the country's exchequer. With reference to the war in Afghanistan, Trump had said that it was time to get out of the country. The American military under the Trump administration is showing no signs of leaving Iraq either. And, unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama, Trump crossed a red line in Syria by ordering Cruise missile strikes against Syria on the flimsiest of pretexts.
THE social and political hounding of Kancha Iliah Shepherd with death threats is another dark page in the recent turn of events, where intellectuals in the country have been at the mercy of hoodlums and fanatics of all hue and color, while the state is a mere bystander, said a statement issued by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), on September 3.
THE RSS workers were brought to Kerala from outside the state for BJP’s ‘Jana Raksha Yatra’.Tense atmosphere prevailed in Payyannur in Kannur district of Kerala on October 3 following violence by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers. The RSS workers, who were returning after BJP’s Jana Raksha Yatra, attacked the houses of Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists, private hospitals, ATMs and telephone exchanges and many vehicles in the area.The Jana Raksha Yatra (Save the People March) led by BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan began from Payyannur on October 3.