THE historic farmers' movement in India which began on November 26, 2020 at Delhi's borders, along with the one day all India strike of the working class, completed eleven long months on October 26, 2021. Lakhs of annadaatas of our country have led a peaceful, continuous and resolute struggle and have put themselves through severe hardships during this period. In the largest such protests anywhere in the world, farmers have been demanding that their livelihoods be protected from corporate loot in unregulated markets.
THE Government’s Roadmap for Ethanol Blending India 2020-25, a programme of the Niti Aayog and the ministry of petroleum & natural gas, was launched without irony on World Environment Day, June 5, 2021. This is the new avatar of several past policies which have been repeatedly re-launched only to crash again.
RECORD-breaking snowfall in Madrid(loss of 1.4 billion euros), Storm Cristoph in UK, Cyclone Ana in Fiji, Winter storms in Texas, Dust storm in China, Flooding in New South Wales, Cyclone Seroja in Indonesia, Record temperatures in Moscow, Heat Dome in US & Bootleg fire in Oregon are 10 of the many extreme weather events witnessed in the year 2021.Between 1970-2019 more than 91 per cent of the deaths attributed to climate change/ weather-related disasters were reported in developing countries.
ON October 26, Domestic Breeding Checkers(DBC) held a protest demonstration in Delhi. The protest demonstration gave a clarion call that in case their demands are not met urgently, they will go on an indefinite strike. The demonstration was also addressed by A R Sindhu, leader of CITU.There are nearly 3,500 DBC's who have been working under a contract system in the three municipal corporations of Delhi for the last 26 years while giving invaluable contributions in controlling dengue, malaria and Corona.
CPI(M) Central Committee met on October 22-24, 2021 at Harkishan Singh Surjeet Bhawan, New Delhi. It has issued the following statement on October 25:ALL INDIA PROTEST AGAINST PRICE RISEThe Central Committee strongly condemned the daily hikes in the prices of petrol and diesel that are imposing unprecedented miseries on the people. This is accompanied by a monstrous hike in the price of cooking gas. This has triggered an overall inflationary spiral in the economy.
THE world was shocked and outraged with the bloodletting and violence between October 13 and 16, in Bangladesh. This is unprecedented in terms of emotional damage; because this was a direct assault on the Durga puja celebrations in some parts of Bangladesh. The violence broke out in the Durga puja festivity in Comilla’s Nanuar Dighi. Later on, it spread to Chandpur, Noakhali and Chittagong.The forum of Hindus, Buddhists and Christians has formally stated that there has been violence, destruction and arson in seventy Durga puja pandals.
THE updation of the National Population Register (NPR) is back on the agenda of the Census 2021 enumeration. According to a news report in The Hindu (dated October 27), the form for updation has been issued as part of the handbook for Census officers that has been given to all the states and was generated through an online system on August 18. According to The Hindu report, the document issued to the district Census officers by the Registrar General of India contains the form which will collect details on fourteen parameters of all family members for updating the data ba
CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statements on October 16
Withdraw BSF Jurisdiction Extension
THE decision of the central government to extend the jurisdiction of the Border Security force (BSF) upto 50 kilometres inside the international borders in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam from the earlier 15 kilometres jurisdiction is an encroachment on the rights of the states and the federal principle.
ON September 8, Tripura witnessed widespread attacks on CPI(M) offices and the houses of CPI(M) cadres across the state. More than a score of offices were burnt down or ransacked. Even the state committee office in Agartala was not spared. Vehicles in front of the offices were burnt. Many houses of Party leaders and activists were set on fire or ransacked. These coordinated attacks by mobs of BJP men were meant to suppress the CPI(M) and stop its activities among the people.These fascistic type of attacks are an onslaught on democracy and a brutal attempt to suppress the opposition.
SHUBHA Lakshmi is pursuing her graduation in English literature. She is the newly elected secretary of CPI(M)’s Vilakkuvattam branch, in Kollam district. She is one of the youngest branch secretaries of CPI(M) in the state.In the branch conferences being held in the state, more women leaders are coming to the forefront of the organisation. The number of CPI(M) branches headed by woman secretaries has increased significantly.The representation of women in local self-governments has reached 50 per cent with the intervention of LDF governments.