AT the end of the third phase of polling, it can be said that Sanjukta Morcha is on the march. The malicious and scandalous allegations that Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been hurling at each other for the past few months, have nettled the ordinary people, who have been fighting a grim battle for survival for the last one year, ever since the unplanned lockdown was shoved down their throat. Neither the TMC nor the BJP has addressed any of the burning issues plaguing the daily lives of the working class.
The draft notification issued by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, on March 15, 2021 will burden all types of the commercial vehicle as well the private motor vehicle owners. When the entire road transport industry is in serious crisis, the implementation of the policy will create havoc.
THE All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 5, ahead of the nation-wide protest call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and made six specific demands apart from their demand to repeal the anti-farmer farm bills.
WITH the second wave of the Covid-19 infection unfolding, India is facing a calamitous situation. April 4 saw the breeching of the 100,000 mark (one lakh) in daily cases with 103,709 cases recorded.
THE union budget presented in parliament on February 1, 2021 announced a long-promised and much-awaited vehicle scrappage policy. Subsequently, the minister for road transport and highways (MoRTH) provided some additional details, although the final policy document was not made available in the public domain on or after February 15 as he promised.
CAMPAIGN for the April 6 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections is going on in full swing. Though the BJP-led government was in favour of running the council through an administrator, it was compelled to hold election following a high court order. Left Front leaders, in their campaign, have been highlighting the sincere and commendable performance of the Left-controlled ADC Council despite total noncooperation of the state government, particularly in providing relief to the destitute people during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
THE Covid-19 crisis has seen a very different response from the advanced countries compared to the third world countries. The former have unrolled substantial fiscal packages for rescue and recovery while the latter have been trapped in fiscal austerity. Among third world countries, India’s fiscal package has been perhaps the most niggardly, amounting to no more than one per cent of GDP; but even other third world countries have not fared all that much better.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on April 1, 2021.THE finance minister’s retraction of the announcement made by the government yesterday of drastically reducing interest rates on small saving schemes does not fool anybody. It is clear that due to the ongoing assembly elections in five states this decision has been kept on hold. This is similar to the dictate imposed by the government on oil retailers to not hike the prices of petroleum products till the elections are over.Crores of people who invest i
ON March 28, caravans marched in Havana, Cuba and another 50 cities around the world demanding an end to the US-imposed blockade on Cuba. In addition to demanding an end to the blockade, the caravan in Havana was dedicated to thanking the world for the solidarity and opposition to the hostile policies of the US government. The caravans began in Miami, US and were held in many cities in the US and in other continents on the last Sunday of every month, since the last nine months.
THE National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) expressed dismay at the deplorable and reprehensible manner in which the National Para Athletics Championship was conducted in Bengaluru from March 24 to 27, 2021. NPRD has written a letter to the minister for youth and sports, Kiren Rijiju, on March 25, after having been flooded with complaints of varying natures from the athletes.Originally scheduled to be held at Chennai, the venue was changed at the last minute to Bengaluru.