THE central government has used the pandemic to pass ordinances that significantly changed agricultural legislations to open up agricultural markets and serve interests of large companies and corporate capital. The Karnataka government has followed in the footsteps of the central government to promulgate the Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 (henceforth the Karnataka land ordinance) on July 13. This ordinance seeks to further corporate and private interests in agricultural land.

THE Himachal Vidhan Sabha is convened for a short period of 10 days at Shimla. For three consecutive days from September 14 to 16, there were three protests held by SFI, CITU and DSMM respectively.SFI BANGS PLATES OUTSIDE THE VIDHAN SABHAOn September 14, the SFI state unit held a demonstration outside the state assembly and banged plates as a form of protest to wake up the government.

CPI(M) Tamil Nadu state secretariat member and former MLA, Comrade K Thangavel passed  away on September 13, 2020.  Comrade K Thangavel got admitted to a hospital for coronavirus treatment in Coimbatore on August 30 and since then he could not come out of his illness.  CPI(M) expresses its deep sorrow and condoles the death of Comrade K Thangavel. He was aged 68 years and is survived by his wife and daughters.Comrade Thangavel was born in a family with a humble background; he worked as a labourer in a hosiery company.

Moreover, such actions prevent the members of Parliament from carrying out their constitutional obligations of questioning, debating, discussing and scrutinising government policies and actions.THE decision to go without “question hour” during the monsoon session of parliament, beginning September 14, has evoked serious concerns about the democratic functioning of the institution. Question hour is not only an opportunity for the members to raise questions, but it is a parliamentary device primarily meant for exercising legislative control over executive actions.

SIX national women's organisations wrote to the minister of rural development, Narendra Singh Tomar demanding immediate withdrawal of the government’s decision to collect the outstanding loans from the Self Help Group (SHG) women.According to reports, the outstanding bank loans to about 54.57 lakh SHGs across the country, amounted to about Rs 91,130 crore at the end of March, of which Rs 2,168 crore or only 2.37 oer cent were NPAs.