DARJEELING hills have been engulfed in a violent agitation which has paralysed normal life. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) call for an indefinite strike has shut down all activities. Three GJM supporters have died as a result of police firing and one police officer was killed.The GJM has revived its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. The agitation was sparked off by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s provocative statement that Bengali would be taught compulsorily in all schools in the state.

IT is a bitter irony that the  day the news appeared in the newspapers that five farmers were killed in Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh due to police firing, the same newspapers carried full page advertisements about the success in the agriculture sector in the three-year rule of the Modi government. Farmers in the districts of Mandsaur, Neemuch, Jhabua, Ratlam and Ujjain were on strike and agitating since June 1 for fair prices for their produce and loan waivers.The farmers threw vegetables and emptied milk tankers on the roads.  The response of the Shivraj Chouhan government was to sh

THE Modi government marked the completion of its three years in office by launching a vicious attack on the right of choice of food and the livelihood of millions of farmers, cattle traders and butchers. On May 25, an amendment to the rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was notified.

THE attack on dalits in Shabbirpur village in Saharanpur district is symptomatic of the communal and caste forces unleashed in Uttar Pradesh after the BJP victory in the assembly election and the formation of the Adityanath government.Immediately after the new government assumed office, attacks on Muslims and dalits began. The closing down of meat shops and abattoirs directly affected the livelihoods of lakhs of Muslims and dalits. What is ominous is that with Yogi at the helm, rabid communal and upper caste forces are asserting themselves.

THE beheading of two soldiers, one from the army and the other from the Border Security Force, within the Line of Control in the Poonch sector, is a brutal provocation. Whether the killing and mutilation of the two soldiers was done by the Pakistani army, or by extremists who crossed over with their assistance, it is a barbaric act which goes against all military norms and the Geneva Convention.There has to be a measured response from the Indian army.