THE Democratic Youth Federation of India and the Students’ Federation of India led a statewide protest against IIT Madras in Tamilnadu for the past one week condemning the derecognition of Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC). The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has derecognised the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC), a student study group, following an anonymous complaint that it was instigating protests against the policies of the central government and creating “hatred” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hindus. The APSC members have written to the institute’s director against what they called the “unilateral” and “undemocratic” decision to derecognise the group. Citing an anonymous complaint allegedly from a section of students, Prisca Mathew, under secretary to the ministry of human resource development, wrote to the IIT-M management on May 15 requesting its comments on the issue. Students said that on May 22, they received a mail from the Dean of Students, Sivakumar M Srinivasan, communicating that the APSC was being derecognised for “misuse of privileges.” Reacting to this, the members of APSC wrote a detailed response to the director of IIT Madras. “Our organisation is engaged in propagating Ambedkar and Periyar thoughts, in helping depressed castes and the caste Hindus to realise the evil of caste-based discrimination taking place in modern India and expose the ideology functioning behind such discrimination,” said the letter, which did not accept the dean’s decision. The Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle was also charged with instigating protests against the central government. Immediately after the news spread, the Left and democratic parties and organisations strongly condemned the action of IIT. CPI(M) state secretary G Ramakrishnan condemned that the ban on the student group is an attack on right to expression and right to organise. On May 28, DYFI and SFI cadres marched towards the IIT Madras shouting slogans against the Modi government’s attack on the fundamental rights and the ban of APSC. They tried to siege the campus gate. However, the police lathicharged and forcibly arrested all of the students and youth. Condemning this, the DYFI and SFI organised protests across the state. SFI gave a call to organise study circles in the name of social reformers and revolutionaries in various schools and colleges in the state. Responding to this call, on June 3, students of SFI unit in the Government Higher Secondary School in SiddhaPudhur, Coimbatore organised an ‘Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle’. Meanwhile, the students of APSC in IIT Madras organised a protest inside the campus on June 2. And across the country, SFI and DYFI as well as other democratic forces held protests. Agrarian Crisis is a Result of Centre’s Wrong Policies AGRARIAN crisis in the country is because of the wrong policies of the Modi-led central government; the Land Acquisition Bill will be a disaster and it will harm food security of the nation, general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, Hannan Mollah said. Delivering a speech on ‘Land Acquisition Bill', in a seminar organised at Dindigul on May 25, as part of the birth centenary celebrations of Comrade Hari Krishna Konar, a legendary leader of AIKS, he said that many provisions in the Bill proposed by the previous UPA government were removed in the new Bill tabled by the Modi government. Earlier, farmers’ consent was necessary before acquiring land and they had the right to approach court. Cultivable land, irrigated land and multi-crop land could not be acquired. Moreover, if the acquired land was not utilised by the government in five years, the land could be returned to the farmers. But the Modi government removed these features in order to favour big companies, he said. It was not necessary to pay even compensation. The role of panchayats was also curtailed. Land meant for hospitals, universities, and colleges and for public purposes could be taken without getting permission from the farmers. Government approval is now necessary to go to court against any dispute, he said. “Cultivable land stretching to one km on both sides of National Highways in the country will be taken in the name of development. Ultimately, the country will lose 39 per cent of land, which will pose a threat to agriculture and food production,” he said. The government had made many efforts to pacify leaders of strong parties in the Rajya Sabha like All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Trinamool Congress to pass the Bill, he noted. “We have to build a strong platform to protest against Modi government by mobilising farmers. A signature campaign with the aim of collecting one crore signatures will be launched,” he announced. The centre also refused to implement the Swaminathan Committee recommendations. Hence, the farmers would not get minimum support price, loan at low interest and subsidised input. It had already cut allocation for agriculture and rural development, said Mollah. Farmers from Madurai, Tiruchi, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga and Karur districts took part in this seminar. On the next day in Theni district, a similar seminar to commemorate Comrade Hari Krishna Konar’s centenary, was also held. Earlier, on May 23, a seminar was organised at Cuddalore. In all these centres, Hannan Mollah addressed huge gatherings. K BalaKrishnan MLA, P Shanmugam, A Lazar, MLA, leaders of Tamilnadu Kisan Sabha also addressed.