Incredible intolerance: JNU administration cancels permission for Onam celebrations to be held at the JNU Convention Centre. The Onam committee had booked the venue, but the admin cancelled the booking, falsely claiming that Onam is a "religious festival". (1/5) Onam celebrations have been held at the same venue for many years. Onam is a harvest festival celebrated by all sections of Malayalis - Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others. Onam celebrations in campuses (and in the vast majority of homes) have no religious connotations. (2/5)

Today, 29 March 2023, is the 80th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Kayyur Martyrs. Four young communists in Kerala who fought against feudal oppression — Madhathil Appu, Koyithaattil Chirukandan, Podora Kunjambu Nair & Pallikkal Abubakker — were hanged to death on 29 Mar 1943. Kayyur, a small village in today's Kasaragod district, saw a major peasant agitation in the 1940s. As part of its fight against landlord oppression, the communist-led Karshaka Sangham (Kisan Sabha; peasant union) demanded that exploitative levies by landlords be stopped.

Countries/regions where British troops committed atrocities, during Elizabeth II's reign, against freedom fighters in countries colonised by Britain include:

● Kenya, where British killed 20,000 Mau Mau fighters as the Mau Mau rebellion (1952-60) was brutally suppressed.

(1/n) ● South Yemen, where the British tried to violently suppress the freedom struggle (1963-67). (Britain, along with the US, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, are waging a horrendous war against Yemen even today.)

(2/n)

Even as fertiliser price rise & shortages have highlighted the importance of planning & production in the public sector to meet the country's needs, the govt is planning to privatise fertiliser PSUs!

Eight fertiliser PSUs collectively reported Rs. 1071 crore profits in FY2021. Read this piece by @Suresh_Garimell which explains how the fertiliser crisis has its roots in wrong policies that have undermined domestic production of fertilisers led by public sector and increased dependence on imports & production by private sector.

newsclick.in/fertiliser-cri…

Gorbachev was a criminal. The destruction (by him, Yeltsin and others) of a system that ensured hardly anybody went hungry was a crime against humanity. In post-Soviet Russia, mortality rates rose sharply; there were at least 3 million excess deaths - a veritable genocide. Rampant inflation following the lifting of price controls and destruction of USSR led to millions of people losing their life savings. A third of the Russian population fell below the poverty line. Industrial production contracted by 60% in 1990-99; GDP fell by 54%. #Gorbachev

Prof. Abhijit Sen's demise is a terrible loss to the discipline of economics and to progressive movements. The former JNU professor and former member of the Planning Commission strongly argued for a universal public distribution system & remunerative prices for farmers. (1/n) Prof. Sen made important contributions to the debate on poverty estimation in India, highlighted increasing inequalities in the country, and argued for protecting farmers from high volatility in output prices and for strong research and extension support to farmers. (2/n)

The picture shows the indicators used in NITI Ayog's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which was released today.

A household wouldn't be poor in terms of assets if they have a mobile phone and a radio or TV or bicycle.

(1/n) It wouldn't be deprived in terms of housing if the floor, roof and walls are not made of mud, clay, sand, earth or dung. The size of the house doesn't matter - quite convenient, isn't it?

(2/n)

Today marks 30 years since Kerala became the 1st State in India to achieve total literacy. Chelakkodan Aysha, a newly-literate elderly woman,made the announcement at a mammoth gathering in Kozhikode on 18 April 1991 in the presence of communist Chief Minister EK Nayanar & others. The top priority that the Left gave to education from 1957 onwards (when Kerala's 1st elected govt came to power) had already resulted in big leaps in literacy. Then came the big push during the tenure of the left govt of 1987-1991 in the form of the total literacy campaign.

Yesterday's press conference by Kerala's Finance Minister @drthomasisaac was a masterclass in exposing the economic and political war being fought by the BJP-led central government against Kerala, a war being aided by the Congress as well.

Thread. 👇🏽 The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), the financial institution set up by the Kerala state government to raise money from the market to fund public infrastructure projects in Kerala, is now the target of the BJP and the Congress.

Two days back, 18 world leaders signed an appeal to IMF calling for allocating Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to enable African countries to buy essential goods & medical supplies. (SDR is an international reserve asset which can be exchanged for currencies.) The signatories are the heads of govt of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mali, Kenya, Angola, Senegal, & DR Congo, the Chair of AU Commission, President of European Commission, & the President of the European Council.

Here's the story of the arrest of JNU Students Union (JNUSU) President DP Tripathi and JNUSU councillor @SitaramYechury, both from the Students' Federation of India (SFI - @SFI_CEC), during the Emergency.
#EmergencyFiles
bodhicommons.org/article/emerge…

https://twitter.com/KanchanGupta/status/1202099883785609217

On the kidnapping of Prabir Purkaystha (@prabirpur), then a first-year student in JNU and activist of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), and now the Editor-in-Chief of @newsclickin, during the Emergency.
#EmergencyFiles
bodhicommons.org/article/emerge…