CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on May 6, 2019CYCLONE Fani was one of the severest cyclones to have wreaked havoc in Odisha. Thousands of thatched houses have been destroyed and reports of over fifty people having lost their lives are trickling in. There is extensive damage to power supply, communications and infrastructure.The central government must be proactive in assisting the state government to meet the grave situation.

IN yet another attempt to destroy a sovereign nation, undermine its economic well-being, the Trump administration has tightened sanctions on Iran.  Under the so-called isolationist Trump, the American empire has become more ruthless, expecting sovereign nations to disregard their own economic well-being and obey imperial instructions. By targeting Iran, the US wants to manipulate global oil supplies and the prices. Today Iran’s contribution to global oil market is in the range of 1 to 1.2 per cent.

SPEAKING in a seminar on May 2 in Bhopal , Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the CPI(M) said that in the last five years there has been a twin attack on the people of the country. On the one hand, the democratic values and constitutional provisions were incessantly attacked at the behest of the BJP government. On the other, there was severe attack the livelihoods of the people; economic hardships and inequity in the country increased.

CPI(M) worker from West Bengal, Comrade Sk Kamrul, was killed  and five others were grievously injured after members of Trinamool Congress (TMC) assaulted them at Khandaghosh in East Burdwan district on May 5. They were attacked for organising a protest against the ‘vote loot’, the capturing of election booths by the ruling party, in Khandaghosh, Bishnupur Lok Sabha constituency, where elections would be held on May 12.Growing resistance against vote loot has become a striking phenomenon of this election in West Bengal.

THE Bank Employees Federation of India has welcomed the Supreme Court’s order on April 26 directing the Reserve Bank to stop blocking disclosure of documents such as the list of loan defaulters and annual inspection reports of banks under the Right to Information Act.The apex court asked the RBI to amend ‘Disclosure Policy’ in line with its earlier ruling on December 16, 2015. The order is part of relentless attempts to extract information in the backdrop of mounting corporate bad debts in banks with the RBI and the government resisting such attempts.