THE All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) with a membership of over seven million members in 16 states of the country is one of the premier organisations of the rural working masses. It is deeply concerned with the worsening condition of the economy of the country whose GDP has sunk to 4.5 per cent, in 2019-20 from 7.2 per cent in 2014-15, with industrial growth falling from 7.3 per cent in July 2018 to  2.1 per cent in July 2019.

 INTERNATIONAL Financial Service Centre Authority bill, 2019 has been introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 11, 2019 and passed.  This bill was earlier introduced in Rajya Sabha in the month of February 2019.  Now this has been withdrawn and introduced in Lok Sabha as money bill, the obvious reason being to skip its passage in Rajya Sabha where the ruling combination does not enjoy comfortable majority.  The very aim of this bill is to “enable Indian corporates easier access to global financial markets” as has been admitted by the “statement of objects and reason” of the bill.For the past

 LOK Sabha took up a discussion on crop loss due to various reasons and its impact on farmers. Speaking on the subject, A M Ariff said the country is passing through a huge farm distress that is breaking the backbone of the economy. Natural reasons and manmade reasons are responsible for this. Natural reasons include flood, drought, cyclone, diseases affecting the crop, etc., but I feel that manmade reasons are worsening the situation. Sadly, the government policies are aggravating the farm distress. Prices are soaring up, but the farmer is still living in poverty.

 THE state of Tamil Nadu stands first as far as the revenue from sale of liquor is concerned. Even during the festival of Deepavali, the state government fixed a target for sale of liquor through the state owned TASMAC shops and ‘achieved’ it. Alcoholism is prevalent even among school students and the number of young widows is increasing in the state. The fact that in many instances of violence, whether it is domestic violence or sexual violence, the culprits were found to be drunk proves the connection between violence and high consumption of liquor.

THE Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929) is a landmark in the history of India’s national liberation struggle. It came at a time when the entire capitalist world was reeling under the Great Depression, whereas, the newly born socialist State of Soviet Russia was making tremendous advances.