THE union rural development ministry has asked states for data on caste basis in the works of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The ministry stated that the details of workers belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) sections should be mentioned separately. Since the inception of the scheme in 2006, there was no such circular from the central government to the states. For the first time employment under the scheme is being sought to be divided on caste lines, which reveals the real agenda of the BJP government.

IN terms of economic policy, the Modi government must be perhaps the most conservative in the world. During the entire period of the pandemic when millions of people lost their incomes and livelihood support, most governments around the world provided universal cash transfers to the people, but not the Modi government. True, many other third world countries too did not provide such universal cash transfers, but their hands were tied; they had contracted heavy external debt and were enjoined to austerity by agencies like the IMF that helped them roll over their debt.

CPI(M)  Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on June 21THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) rejects the central government’s understanding with regard to compensation to corona victims, as stipulated under the Disaster Management Act, which has been invoked by the central government to deal with the Covid pandemic. Under the provisions of this Act compensation to the victims of a disaster has to be paid.The argument that the distribution of ex-gratia payments will strain the finances of the government is specious.

THE Left parties had given a nationwide call for a protest fortnight from June 16 to 30 to condemn the Modi-led BJP central government for the savage and continuous price hikes of diesel, petrol, gas, cooking oil and several other essential items.The AIKS CKC had given a nationwide call to take up burning local issues of the peasantry in each state and link them up to the fundamental demands of the historic farmers’ struggle.Extended state committee online meetings of the CPI(M) and the AIKS were held separately in the first week of June.

HECTIC preparations are on all over the country to make the June 26 call to ‘Save Agriculture, Save Democracy’ against the BJP-RSS Modi government a massive success. As noted last week, the call was given to mark the completion of seven months of the farmers’ struggle, and also the 46th anniversary of the imposition of the internal emergency by the then Congress regime. The people today are fighting the undeclared poisonous emergency of the Modi-led BJP-RSS regime.