LEFT parties and mass organisations in West Bengal are busy fighting corona disaster and its fall outs, in a courageous and energetic manner. While abiding by the restrictions imposed through lockdown, they are out to help the needy in multifarious ways.CITU has opened up helplines for tens of thousands of migrant workers, working outside the state. They are mostly stranded in different states. CITU has contacted respective state centres and extended whatever help they could do. A central helpline has been opened at the CITU state centre. The phone rang practically all through the days.

PUNJAB state secretary of the CPI(M), Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon, on March 29 wrote a letter to the chief minister of Punjab, Captain Amrinder Singh, regarding the plight of the migrant workers, transporters and other sections of the society in Punjab and demanded his intervention to address the woes because of the ongoing lockdown in the state.He said the Punjab state committee of CPI(M) appreciates the steps taken by the government to face the challenge of Covid-19 in Punjab and assured full co-operation of the CPI(M) for successful implementation of the guidelines of the government.

HINDU and Muslim communalists considered India to consist of two nations – divided on the basis of the religious beliefs of people – Hindus and Muslims. It is for this reason that both Savarkar and Jinnah did not find any problem with the two-nation theory advocated by each other. When the Congress had given the call, ‘Quit India’ in 1942, Muslim League had called, ‘Divide India and Quit’.

EVERY global pandemic must be seen in its political, social and economic context. The Covid-19 pandemic is occurring at a time when neoliberal capitalism has ravaged all the basic services which are vital for the well-being of people. Privatisation has denuded or dismantled the public health system in many countries; the State has abandoned the responsibility of providing for the basic needs of the people – food, housing, education and public transport.

THE central government has made major changes in crop insurance scheme. The scheme is now going to be ‘voluntary’ for all farmers. Changes have also been made in the way of determining the amount of compensation. The states have been given freedom in respect of providing more protection to farmers. The union agriculture minister Narendra Kumar Tomar claims that this will enable farmers to face risks involved in production of crops; that famers’ income will be stabilised and insurance claims will be properly settled due to the speedy and accurate method of assessing production.