Assam: A Strong Campaign for a Secular Government

THE election to Assam Assembly was held in three phases—March 27, April 1, and April 6. The turn out was massive, around 82.04 per cent and the election was by and large peaceful.After the Lok Sabha election in 2019 where BJP won nine out of 14 seats in Assam, the urge for unity against BJP slowly gained ground. The election results of 2016 Assam Assembly election and Lok Sabha election in the state in 2019 show that the combined vote share of non-BJP Parties was greater than the vote share of BJP and its allies. In the 2016 Assembly election, BJP and its allies AGP and BJP got 86 seats.

Zig Zag Politics in Latin America

THE graphs are painful to look at, the surge of cases in Brazil extraordinary, but the surge in other countries (Colombia, Argentina, Mexico) not lagging behind. The focus of attention in Latin America is Covid-19, with many states floundering to manage the spread of the virus, but more so to manage the social chaos it has created.

Stop Attack on Farmers

THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on April 8, has condemned the decision of the Narendra Modi led BJP government to allow fertilizer companies to hugely hike the prices of chemical fertilizers. The price of DAP (18-46-00) which was Rs 24,000/MT in 2020 has now been increased to Rs 38,000/MT or an increase of Rs 14,000/MT. Farmers who were paying Rs 1200 for a 50 kg bag have to now pay Rs 1900. The prices of NPK complex fertilizers have also seen an exorbitant rise.

The relevance of re-election of LDF in Kerala

THE ongoing farmers’ struggle in India is an integral part of the class struggle by the producing classes - the peasantry and the working class- the world over against the imperialist globalisation.Declining purchasing capacity of the two major producing classes has paved the way for enormous recession and related massive unemployment and price rise. The trade unions and organisations of the peasants, youth and students have built massive struggles and its natural consequence is mounting people’s fury on the Congress that had initiated imposing LPG policies on the people. In the due cour

Comrade Kunja Bojji

VETERAN Communist and a three-time MLA, Comrade Kunja Bojji (95) passed away on April 12, at a private hospital in Bhadrachalam. Comrade Bojji was born on February 10, 1926. He became a member of the CPI(M) in 1951.Comrade Bojji worked as a courier in the heroic Telangana Armed Struggle. He represented the Bhadrachalam constituency for three consecutive terms in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh, from 1985 to 1999. He led many struggles of adivasis on the issues of land, tendu leaves, forest rights etc for decades.

Brutal Second Wave of Covid-19 Pandemic

Below we publish the statement issued by the All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN) on April 14, 2021ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITYDON’T BLAME PEOPLE & STATESA belated high-level meeting at the PMO blamed the people and the states for this Covid crisis. This serves only to enable the centre to evade responsibility for the present situation and give itself an excuse for future inaction or failure.

DUJ Calls Out Attacks on Journos

THE Delhi Union of Journalists once again drew attention to the repeated attacks on journalists in states across the country. In a statement issued on April 5, it deeply regretted the growing antagonism towards media persons who are simply doing their job. Kashmiri photojournalist Qisar Mir who was covering a gunfight, along with other journalists, near Pulwama on April 2, 2021 was kicked from behind by a police constable. Another pointed a pellet gun at the journalists. The incident was captured on video by a journalist.

Tripura: Budget Session: Urgent People’s Issues Find no Place

THE budget session of the Tripura Assembly was held on March 19-25, 2021. Time constraint was reflected on the very first day of the session. The first day was allotted for the governor’s inaugural speech followed by the presentation of the budget 2021-22. After a long speech by the governor, the time left for the presentation of the budget was too short to present it by reading out fully. At this juncture, the speaker of the assembly came to the rescue of finance minister, Jishnu Debbarma and directed him to complete the presentation by reading the last part of the budget document.

Ruling Classes and Concern for the Poor

WHEN Elizabeth Warren a contender for American presidentship had proposed a progressive wealth tax during her campaign for Democratic Party nomination, 18 American billionaires had come out in support of her proposal; one cannot recall or even imagine any comparable behaviour in the Indian context. This is not because the American, or more generally Western, capitalists are particularly kind or generous towards those whom they exploit.

The West is Practicing Vaccine Apartheid At a Global Level

WITH an eighth of the world’s population, the rich countries – the US, Canada, UK and the EU – have received more than 50 per cent of the world’s vaccine doses. The US alone has received 147 million vaccine jabs (see Table 1). This is more than 14 times what the entire continent of Africa – with four times the population of the US – has received. And if we do not count the vaccine doses that Morocco, truly an outlier in Africa, has received, the US has received 60 times the vaccine doses that Africa has!

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