At the same time when the entire humanity prayed for the safety of the 12 boy students and one coach trapped in the Thailand cave and their rescue, the SDPI has brutally murdered a young student, the SFI leader Com. Abhimanyu in Ernakulam Maharaja’s College.
SDPI, You are condemned by the whole world!

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the move by the Modi government to accord ‘Institution of Eminence’ status to the Reliance Foundation’s Jio Institute.

Some time back, the government had announced that twenty institutions, ten each of the public funded institutions and in the private sector, would be selected as institutions of eminence. A committee headed by former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami was tasked to identify these institutions. The entire exercise and the considerations have remained largely outside the public domain. The MHRD has now come out with an announcement that the total number will be reduced from twenty to just six and one of the chosen three private institutions is Reliance Foundation’s Jio Institute.

For an institution to stand the test of time and evolve into a truly ‘world class’ institution of higher learning and research is a challenging process. It takes great perseverance and creativity to earn that tag of eminence. It is bewildering that the Jio Institute, which is non-existent and notional, has been given that status solely on a ‘drawing board’ projection.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) condemns this move of the government which cannot be construed as anything but brazen cronyism. It will have a debilitating effect on the entire sphere of higher education underlining the obsession of the government to promote privatisation and undermining public funded higher education.

People watching the children being brought out.

Four of 12 boys have been rescued from a flooded Thai cave today. Bringing out the four from the cave has not been easy, but it has been achieved after great efforts. The operation for bringing out the left out 9 including the coach will be done tomorrow.

The entire world is looking eagerly for the other children and coach to be brought out safely.

Returning to action after a long lay-off of nearly two years due to injury, India’s premier gymnast Dipa Karmakar clinched the gold medal in the vault event of FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup at Mersin, Turkey today.
The 24-year-old from Tripura, who had finished fourth in vault event in the 2016 Rio Olympics, scored 14.150 to win gold today. She had topped the qualification also with a score of 13.400.
This is Dipa’s first medal in a World Challenge Cup.
Dipa, who is being accompanied by her coach Bisheshwar Nandi, has also qualified in balance beam finals by finishing third in the qualification with a score of 11.850.
Dipa had suffered an Anetrior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury after Rio Olympics and had undergone surgery. She was initially confident of making a comeback at the Commonwealth Games but rehabilitation took more time than expected and she missed the Gold Coast event.
She has been included in the 10-member Indian gymnastics team for the upcoming Asian Games.(Courtesy: Ganashakti)

New Delhi, July 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP had generated high hopes and got the support of farmers in 2014 elections by promising that the Swaminathan commission recommendation of fixing MSP according to the formula C2+50%. It has betrayed them yet again by announcing MSP for the Kharif crops based on A2+FL costs instead of the promised more comprehensive C2 costs. Also no steps have been taken to ensure assured procurement. Without assured procurement any such announcement is only notional and will not accrue to the cultivating peasantry. The BJP Government’s tall claims that the decision on Kharif MSP is “historic” falls flat when one compares with the actual promise and the gap between A2+FL and C2 costs. It actually is a historic betrayal of the promise made to farmers of fixing MSP at a level of at least 150 percent of the C2 cost of production.
Crop A2+FL
Per Quintal

C2
Per Quintal

MSP (2018-19)
Per Quintal

C2+50%

Difference Between C2+50 & MSP
Per Quintal

CACP Costs for 2017-18
Paddy 1117 1484 1750 2226 -476
Jowar Hybrid 1556 2089 2430 3133.5 -703.5
Bajra 949 1278 1950 1917 +33
Ragi 1861 2351 2897 3526.5 -629.5
Maize 1044 1396 1700 2094 -394
Arhar 3318 4612 5675 6918 -1243
Moong 4286 5700 6975 8550 -1575
Urad 3265 4517 5600 6775.5 -1175.5
Groundnut 3159 4089 4890 6133.5 -1243.5
Sunflower Seed 3481 4526 5388 6789 -1401
Soyabean 2121 2921 3399 4381.5 -982.5
Sesamum 4067 5706 6249 8559 -2310
Nigerseed 3912 5108 5877 7662 -1785
Cotton
(Medium Staple)

3276 4376 5150 6564 -1414
?The above table clearly shows that if the promised C2+50% formula was used for calculating MSP it should have been much higher. Only Bajra has a higher than C2+50%.
?It is also to be noted that the last year’s costs are being used for arriving at these results and costs have risen over the year by not less than 10 percent.
?It also has to be noted that there is huge disparity in cost calculation by Central agencies and States. Centrally determined costs are much lower than the costs determined by the State Agricultural departments. Both of these fall below farmers’ actual costs.
?The MSP recommended by State Governments (including BJP ruled States) based on their cost calculations are much higher than MSP announced.
?Public procurement is mainly taking place only in few crops like paddy and wheat and that too is below 20 percent of the total production. In most other crops there is no procurement in most States.

Costs of certain crops and recommendations by the States will bring out starkly the betrayal by the Narendra Modi led BJP Government.

For Paddy the State projection of cost of production for 2017-18 by Andhra Pradesh was Rs.1866/Qtl while the CACP projection for the State was merely Rs.1495/Qtl. Andhra Pradesh had proposed Rs.2799/Qtl. Notably BJP ruled States of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh had proposed MSP of Rs.3251/Qtl, Rs.2,200/Qtl and Rs.2,700/Qtl respectively for paddy in 2017-18. Other major paddy growing States like Tamilnadu and Punjab had recommended MSP of Rs.2300/Qtl and Rs.2000/Qtl for 2017-18. A full one year after that the BJP Government has announced Rs.1750/Qtl. The LDF Government in Kerala is already procuring at Rs.2350/Qtl. Due to the absence of public procurement farmers in most States are forced to sell at distress prices ranging from Rs.800/Qtl to Rs.1200/Qtl even when MSP was Rs.1550/Qtl.

BJP ruled Gujarat had proposed Rs.6500/Qtl for groundnut last year while the MSP announced only Rs.4890/Qtl. Farmers were expecting a huge hike in pulses as an incentive for producing more to meet the country’s needs and also for naturally fixing nitrogen to the tune of about Rs.4000/hectare. For Arhar/Tur, the cost of production determined by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were Rs.5984/Qtl amd Rs.7123/Qtl while the CACP projections were way below at Rs.5683/Qtl only for both the States. Farmers are forced to sell at rates ranging between Rs.3400/Qtl to Rs.4,200/Qtl only which is below the then MSP of Rs.5450/Qtl, while this BJP Government is assuring MSP to farmers in Mozambique. Same trend continues for Moong and Urad. Karnataka which is a major producer of Arhar/Tur had suggested an MSP of Rs.7000/Qtl while the MSP announced is only Rs.5675/Qtl which is way below the cost of production in the major Arhar/Tur growing States. Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh had suggested Rs.4800/Qtl and Rs.4000/Qtl for soyabean while the MSP announced is only Rs.3399/Qtl. For cotton the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governments cost projection for 2017-18 was Rs.5042/Qtl and Rs.5337/Qtl while CACP projection was only Rs.4625/Qtl. They had proposed MSP of Rs.7564/Qtl and Rs.8005/Qtl respectively and BJP ruled Maharashtra had proposed Rs.7204/Qtl while the MSP announced is only Rs.5150/Qtl.

Clearly, on looking into the costs of production projected by the States and the Centre, MSP proposed by States and the MSP announced we can understand that the BJP Government led by Narendra Modi is seeking to create an illusion of bounty while they actually are actually pegging farmers’ costs way below the actual and the MSP announced is actually a betrayal of what had been promised.

Four years of the BJP Government has passed without doing anything for farmers and they are now seeking to hoodwink farmers by making an aggressive campaign on the eve of impending elections. AIKS condemns this callous attitude of the BJP Government that exposes its utter failure and calls for revision of MSP according to the Swaminathan Commission recommendations and for ensuring assured procurement. AIKS has chalked out mass campaign, Jail Bharo on 9th August and massive Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally on 5th September. We call upon all democratic organisations and individuals interested in farmers’ welfare to join in much greater numbers in these protests against the betrayal by the BJP Government.