Report

After the BJP government assumed power in Chhattisgarh, the widespread tree-felling in Hasdeo Arand forest region has resumed. About 2.5 lakh trees are slated to be chopped in the forest, which will clear massive swathes of land for the Parsa East and Kete Basan (PEKB) Phase-II coal mining, where Adani Enterprises Ltd. is the official “mine developer and operator”.

Contractual Sanitation workers of JNU held protest demonstration today at  the office of Central Labour Commissioner at Shrameva Jayate Bhavan in Dwarka.  A delegation consisting of Urmila Chavan (former Sanitation workers at JNU presently retrenched from work), Anju Kumari, Sucheta De and Suvarna Swain (JNU AICCTU Office Bearers) met the Assistant Labour Commissioner Mr Rajnish Sangwan. 

On 29th January, AISA along with students in Delhi held a protest at the UGC Headquarters in New Delhi against the new Draft Guidelines on Reservation Policy. Chapter 10 of the said policy includes provisions for de-reservation of reserved seats in Central Universities. As if the old schema of NFS (Not Found Suitable) was not enought to keep applicants from marginalised communities out of education and jobs, UGC found it necessary to strengthen the assault on social justice.

CPIML Delhi-NCR committee held its 12th State Conference on Jan 20, 2024. The conference was inaugurated by party’s Polit Bureau member Ramji Rai. The conference began after paying homage to martyrs and flag hosting. 

In Navinagar in Aurangabad district of Bihar, a mob lynching incident was investigated by a fact-finding team of CPIML comprising Arwal MLA Mahanand Singh, party state committee member Anwar Hussain, Insaaf Manch state secretary Qayamuddin Ansari, Aurangabad district secretary Munarik Ram and local party leaders on January 17, 2023. The team interacted with local people to find the truth behind the incident but in the environment of fear after the lynching incident it became difficult to come to a definitive conclusion.

Tens of social, academic and political activists joined hands to give a call to save Patna museum under the banner of Save Patna Museum Struggle Committee. The committee raised the demand that Bihar gov should proactively work to save the historical reserve of the museum for future generations. If there has been illegal diversion or theft from the museum than steps should be taken for the recovery of the historic artefacts and manuscript. The Patna museum is well known especially for preserving the artefacts, manuscripts and historical accounts related to Buddhist culture.

In a national convention held in Jalandhar, Punjab on 16th January, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) called for a nationwide ‘Grameen Bandh’ (rural strike) on February 16th against the anti-farmer polices and betrayals by Modi government. 

Students across the country under the banner of 'United Students of India' held a parliament march at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on January 12th, 2024. The protest reverberated with the chants rejecting the exclusionary NEP and demanding an end to the anti-student Modi-Shah regime. 

A protest march was organised by CPI(ML) and AIPWA in Patna on January 12th, 2024 demanding action against the perpetrators of gangrape and murder of Dalit girls in Bihar’s Phulwari. The incident which occurred on January 8th in Hinduni Village in Phulwari, led to the death of one of the girls and another was severely injured. The girls had gone to the nearby village to collect firewood. When they failed to return home, their family members approached the local police station, but the officer refused to initiate immediate action and instead made the family wait. 

On 16th January, 2024 which marked the 19th martyrdom day of popular CPI(ML) leader Comrade Mahendra Singh, the CPI(ML) launched a state wide ‘Jan Sankalp Abhiyan’ (Mass Pledge Campaign) from Bagodar, Jharkhand with the clarion call to defeat the communal-fascist BJP regime in Elections 2024.