CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on June 3, 2024THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemns the hikes in the prices of all variants of milk by Rs 2 per litre by Mother Dairy and Amul.It is clear that the government was waiting until the elections were over to impose further burden on people.Earlier, immediately after polling was completed, the road toll tax was hiked by 5 per cent across the board.

AMONG the states that savagely cut down the odious Modi-Shah-led BJP regime to size in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were the two states with the largest number of MPs in the country – Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Both these states are currently ruled by the BJP.Uttar Pradesh, with 80 Lok Sabha seats, gave 43 seats to the INDIA bloc, an increase of 37 compared to 2019; it gave 36 seats to the NDA, a drop of 28. One independent has won there.

A CONVENTION held in Vijayawada demanded that the governments of Israel and the United States stop attacks on Rafah city and appealed to the Government of India to cease arms supply to Israel. The Left parties held a convention in solidarity with Palestine at Vijayawada on June 3. CPI(M) state secretary V Srinivasa Rao presided over the meeting and placed a resolution, which was adopted unanimously. He described how the people of Palestine were displaced from their homeland and highlighted the US's imperialist machinations behind it.

THE verdict of the 2024 Lok Sabha election is remarkable for the assertion by the people that they value democracy and the constitution.  The people have deprived the BJP of an absolute majority, something which it had achieved both in 2014 and 2019.  The BJP’s tally has come down from 303 seats to 240 seats – a 21 per cent reduction.  NDA has won 292 seats while the INDIA bloc has got 234 seats. The elections were held in the background of the ten years of Modi rule whose hallmark was the institution of an authoritarian regime which promoted the Hindutva-communal agenda.

A NEW AI (Artificial Intelligence) model, AlphaFold3, has excited the scientific community. Developed by Google's DeepMind Anglo-US subsidiary with Isomorphic Labs (a subsidiary of  Google group’s parent company, Alphabet), AlphaFold3 made headlines in the journal Nature on May 9, 2024 for its ability to predict interaction of protein structures with other molecules like DNA and RNA. This holds immense promise for drug discovery and medical treatments.However, a cloud hangs over this excitement: limited access to the technology.