In the Face of Twin Disasters

IN the space of a few days, there have been two developments concerning the pandemic and the economy which are alarming. India became the country with the second largest number of Covid-19 cases in the world, overtaking Brazil. Preceding this came the news that in the first quarter (April-June) GDP had contracted by 24 per cent. This is the worst fall among 25 major economies of the world.The pandemic is surging and it has spread to small towns and villages. India has outstripped all countries in the daily increase in number of infections.

CITU Stands with Power Employees, Opposes Privatisation of PVVNL in UP

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) denounced the attempts of the Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh to unbundle the Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd (PVVNL), in a bid to privatise it through the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020.The CITU said that the government’s decision to divide the power distribution system into three entities which will then have to bid for electricity distribution will lead to an increase in electricity rates, severely affecting the poor living in rural and tribal areas.The CITU also condemned the ‘vindictive attitude’ of the Uttar Pradesh Power Cor

CPI(M) Writes to Railway Minister against Eviction of Slum Dwellers

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Brinda Karat, wrote to Piyush Goyal, minister for railways, on September 4, bringing to his notice the potential public health disaster in evicting lakhs of jhuggi dwellers in Delhi during the Covid-19 pandemic.She reminded the minister that the Delhi High Court in its judgement last year had directed that arrangements for rehabilitation must be made in the event of relocation being required.

BPCL Strike A Pointer to Growing Resistance against BJP: CITU

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) congratulated the workers of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) for two days strike action on September 7-8, against the privatisation of BPCL and the BJP government and called it a pointer to growing resistance against the BJP government.Tapan Sen, general secretary of CITU noted that BPCL was formed by taking over a multinational company through an Act of Parliament in 1976.

Assess the loss and provide adequate compensation: AIKS

IN a press release dated September 5, AIKS has stated that in the entire cotton-growing area of Haryana the standing crop that reached the stage of ball formation suffered massive losses due to Whitefly infestation. A total of 7.37 lakh hectares were sown with a cotton crop which is almost nine per cent more than last year. This is spread over half of the districts of the state out of which it is one of the major crops in at least five districts along with Paddy, Bajra, pulses etc., in the Kharif season.

AIKS Questions BJP Govt Claims on Agriculture

IN a statement issued on September 3, the All India Kisan Sabha noted that the data released by the BJP government recently has made clear the devastation caused by the unplanned and draconian lockdown implemented in the last week of March. Even after the misery caused by the lockdown is clear to all, the government is in a denial mode and unwilling to provide any substantive relief to farmers and working people.

Birth Centenary of Anna Bhau Sathe- People’s poet

TITLED as Gorky of Maharashtra, Anna Bhau Sathe was born in a dalit family on August 11, 1920 in Vategaon village in Satara district in Maharashtra. Anna Bhau’s journey from his village to one of the most astounding figures of literature in Maharashtra is nothing less than a fairy tale. A person who did not even know the letters till he started working in Bombay rose to one of the finest poets that the state has ever produced.

Brazen Violation of States’ Rights

THE refusal by the central government to pay the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation due to the states is patently illegal and violative of the constitutional scheme regarding relations between the centre and the states.

Finally, Modi Govt Wakes Up to Urban Joblessness – Or Does it?

UNEMPLOYMENT has been running at staggeringly high levels in India’s urban areas for the past several months. It had averaged about 7 per cent in 2018 and risen to over 8 per cent in 2019, then zoomed up to an incredible 26 per cent during the recent lockdown. After falling to about 12 per cent in June and further to 9.2 per cent in July, in August 2020 it is estimated at nearly 10 per cent. All these figures are from CMIE’s periodic surveys, which are the only source of such high frequency data. These urban rates have been consistently higher than those for rural areas.

TELANGANA: ‘Atma Nirbhar has Become Atma Samarpan With BJP at the Centre’

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury addressing an online public meeting on September 1, organised by the Telangana state committee of the Party, said that the inefficiency of the government and its policies are helping the corporates and capitalists to amass wealth during the pandemic while all the main sectors have been thrown into crisis.The meeting was organised to discuss the effects of the state and central government policies on the people. Yechury said that Atma Nirbhar (self reliant) policy of the central government has led to Atma Samarpan (self surrender).

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