THE Central Committee of the Communist Party adopted a resolution on the ‘Tasks Among the Peasant Masses’, in its meeting in April 1954. This resolution dealt with the questions related to “ceiling, ‘right of resumption’, rent reduction, tax burdens, economic price for the peasants’ produce, indebtedness, consolidation of holdings and prevention of fragmentation, cooperative societies, panchayats, irrigation facilities, demands of agricultural labourers and the problems of building and activising Kisan organisations”.

A DAY before the commencement of Onam, on August 30, Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan announced 100 projects that will be completed in the next 100 days as part of an action plan to boost the socio-economic status of the state.As part of the food security programme, the distribution of the much-lauded food kits was launched by the government during the Covid crisis and it  will continue for the next four months.

THE day of October 2, 2007, is important for rural sanitation workers in the state. The then Congress government appointed these employees on the same day through gram panchayats on a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,525 to keep the villages clean and tidy. The number of these employees in the state is about 11,000. The government gave the right to pay an honorarium to the gram panchayats, with this decision of the government, the foundation of forced labour and harassment was laid.

THE day of October 2, 2007, is important for rural sanitation workers in the state. The then Congress government appointed these employees on the same day through gram panchayats on a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,525 to keep the villages clean and tidy. The number of these employees in the state is about 11,000. The government gave the right to pay an honorarium to the gram panchayats, with this decision of the government, the foundation of forced labour and harassment was laid.

TWO news items about India have figured prominently, one a nearly 24 per cent drop in India’s GDP  the previous quarter and the other that India has taken over as the new epicentre of the global pandemic with its figures for new cases crossing even the US numbers. The 24 per cent drop in GDP for the second quarter is the biggest drop of any major economy in the world for a quarter. The comparable US figures are 9.5 per cent and Japan’s 7.6 per cent drop in the same quarter.