JUNE 5, 2017 was a red letter day in the history of Maharashtra. On that day, practically the whole of rural and semi-urban Maharashtra came to a halt as part of a Maharashtra Bandh to support the historic statewide farmers’ strike that began on June 1. The call had been given jointly by several peasant organisations, among whom the AIKS is playing a major role.Hundreds of towns, mandis, roads, shops and government offices were closed down by lakhs of farmers who came on to the streets in solidarity with the demands of the strike.

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions, in a statement issued on June 1, has strongly condemned the brutal lathicharge, arrest  and detention of more than four hundred workers including 35 women of the Aisin Automative Ltd located at Rohtak, Haryana. Besides the workers, the leaders of various mass organisations who joined the struggling workers in solidarity were also arrested on May 31, 2017.

THE march to Nabanna witnessed hundreds of people injured, brutalised, many of them with serious injuries. But within a week of the march, the militant movement had to suffer the pain of martyrdom. Comrade Salil Basu of Dum Dum in North 24 Parganas district (60) succumbed to physical injuries, a result of police lathicharge on that day.Bread earner of a poor family, Comrade Basu was a committed CPI(M) worker of Nayapatti in Dum Dum, a traditional base of the Party. He was popular in the locality for his helpful attitude to people. He went to Nabanna march with other comrades of the area.

WHEN the CSO had released advance estimates of GDP for the October-December quarter of 2016-17, within which demonetisation had occurred, the fact that the economy had still shown a 7 per cent growth rate, had been an occasion for much celebration in government circles.

THE BJP and the RSS are not only whipping up a frenzy of communalism and nationalism, but also using such sentiments to aid neoliberalism. With all the hue and cry over the central government’s jolting decisions in the recent past, what comes to fore is the discussion on communalism and nationalism, while its direct correlation to neoliberalism is being sidelined, which is precisely what the primary focus should be on.If we look at what has happened to agriculture over the last few years, it is a telling tale of government apathy and disinterest.