THE Communist and Workers Parties through a joint statement have strongly and unequivocally condemned the Israeli aggression meted out against Palestinians in Jerusalem as well as the continued military bombardment upon Gaza which has resulted in the killing of scores of Palestinian civilians and the maiming of hundreds more, among them children.Israel’s brazen violation of international humanitarian law and international law has continued for decades now, aided and abetted with the full support of imperialist forces, and without any meaningful intervention from international institutions t

ON March 24, 2020, Narendra Modi had announced that the country would go into a lockdown after four hours! This nation-wide lockdown was to last till the end of May, after which there were local lockdowns but not a general one. It brought acute hardship to millions of the working poor, among whom the migrant workers’ woes received global attention.

AFTER ascending the chair of the chief minister for the third time, Mamata Banerjee has done little to address the gargantuan task of combatting the rising number of patients infected by the killer coronavirus. Insufficient hospital beds, ICUs, oxygen beds, were quickly taking the situation out of control. As the numbers started spiralling, people ran from pillar to post to lay their hands on oxygen cylinders.

INDIA is no stranger to shortages, but there was one shortage nobody would have dreamt of in their most horrific nightmare – shortage of space and firewood at cremation grounds and burial grounds. And yet, that is a spectacle that has become routine in several cities across India. Families of those who had lost their loved ones waited for hours in queues to cremate their dead and paid astronomical sums to buy the firewood needed to do so. Many were cremated outside the crematoria.

THE determination of the Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh to go ahead with the three-tier panchayat elections in the state has not brought it any political dividends while it has extracted a very heavy toll from its citizens. A total of 58,176-gram panchayats and 826 blocks were up for election along with 3,050 zila panchayat seats. The numbers that became vulnerable to infection in the course of the month-long campaign and the voting process itself runs into crores.