THE joint platform of Central Trade Unions and Federations has urged prime minister, Narendra Modi to cement a proactive unity of all people and to meet the challenge posed by the calamity of the second wave of COVID-19.In a letter to the PM on April 28th, the CTUs have said that it is necessary for all sections to feel that the government is taking care of them, especially the toiling masses, who are forced to leave their homes in search of livelihoods.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met online on May 5, 2021. It has issued the following statement:UNABATED COVID UPSURGETHE upsurge of the pandemic continues to take a heavy toll of human life all across the country. The Polit Bureau expresses its grief at these avoidable deaths and conveys condolences to the families of all those who have lost their lives.Despite all appeals, the central government has failed to ensure the flow of oxygen to save human lives.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India(Marxist) has issued  the following statement on May 2, 2021:KERALA: The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) hails the resounding victory of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala. It thanks the people of Kerala for once again reposing faith in the LDF and reelecting it to form the next government. This has happened after more than four decades that the incumbent has been reelected.

THE incompetence of the Modi government is starkly visible in its handling of the current crisis. It fares even worse on the vaccine front. Its belief in the ideology of free-market capitalism is that the market will magically produce whatever we need. This is why it starved the seven public sector vaccine manufacturing units (Down To Earth: COVID-19 vaccines: Waiting for advantage India, 17 April 2021) of any support. And, it also gave the public sector vaccine, Covaxin, developed by ICMR and National Institute of Virology, to a private company, Bharat Biotech.

ON Earth Day April 22, this year, US President Joe Biden hosted a summit of world leaders to address climate change, something he had promised he would do during his presidential campaign, to once again establish US leadership on this vital global issue that former US President Trump had abandoned four years ago.