THE All India Kisan Sabha activists holding red flags, along with farmers from across the country, participated in the Kisan Mukti Sansad at Jantar-Mantar in New Delhi on July 18. The Kisan Mukti Sansad was the culmination of the first phase of the Kisan Mukti Yatra which began on July 6 from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh where six farmers were killed in police firing onJune 6, 2017.After the Mandsaur firing, over 162 organisations came together to form the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC).

THE connivance of the BJP’s central leaders with the IPFT’s indefinite blockade movement of the national highway and the only railway track of Tripura, on the so-called demand of a separate state since July 10, is no more a secret.

ON June 11, 2017, the BJP-led state government was forced to the negotiating table by the Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Organisations and it had to publicly declare a complete loan waiver for farmers, excluding the richer sections, as a result of the unprecedented 10-day farmers’ strike in Maharashtra, which was backed by a Maharashtra bandh. That report was carried in these columns last month.GOVERNMENT BETRAYAL However, as was only to be expected, the BJP-led state government betrayed its promise of a complete loan waiver within a fortnight.

THOUSANDS of activists participated in a massive joint protest march from Kotwal Garden, Dadar (West) to Chaityabhoomi in Mumbai on July 3 against hate crimes and lynching by fanatic mobs.  Subsequently, a public meeting followed by a cultural programme was held at Chaityabhoomi.The programme was organised jointly by Bharip-Bahujan Mahasangh, CPI(M), CPI, LNP, LNP(L), CPI(ML) Lib, SUCI, trade unions belonging to Trade Unions Joint Action Committee (TUJAC), mass organisations of students, youth, women and teachers, cultural organisations of progressive writers, poets, artists and various NGO

THE working committee meeting of CITU, held from July 14-16, at Shimla notes with serious concern the grievous impact of the GST launched by the government of India with much fanfare on July 1, 2017. The GST has adversely impacted the common people at large, particularly the workers in the unorganised sector, people engaged in small and decentralised manufacturing like tailoring, garments, textile, beedi, small drug manufacturing, construction, matches and fireworks and passenger and goods transport etc and also small traders. Even the insurance premium is not spared from high taxation.