CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on February 18THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly denounces yet another hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.  These hikes in excise duties come at a time when international oil prices have fallen with the base price for petrol being Rs 47.12 in 2014 to Rs 29.34 in 2021, i.e., nearly 50 per cent. The main reason for these escalating prices is the unbridled hike in the excise duties by the central government, which today is 38 per cent of the cost of petrol.  The tax levied by the centre incr

PROFESSOR Dwijendra Narayan Jha (DN Jha or DNJ in short), who fought shibboleths and superstitions all his life, was busy doing so when he took a break, had lunch, went for his siesta and breathed his last on February 4, 2021. On that count, the loss to the cause he stood for and served – by providing well-honed intellectual instruments for changing the world for the better – is indeed real and irreparable. The departure of anyone who has given all that he/she had to is indeed very sad, but the bereavement causes little loss to the cause as such.

THE budget session of parliament began with president Ram Nath Kovind’s address to a joint sitting of both the houses on January 29. The CPI(M) and other opposition parties boycotted the president’s address in solidarity with the farmers agitating against the centre’s three contentious farm laws. On February 1, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the union budget for 2021-22.

THE government has released a Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP 2020) and invited responses by January 31, 2021. The Department of Science & Technology and the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government did conduct a series of consultations with some scientists and other experts to seek, albeit prior to the actual formulation and release of the policy document leading to considerable disgruntlement in this community.

THE meeting of the general council was held on February 1-2, 2021 in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The meeting was attended by 97 members and was presided over by Amiya Patra.Meeting discussed in detail the organisational issues and finalised its membership which is 70,87,499. The states of Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura and Punjab have increased their membership.