REPORTS

AISA National Conference

The Sixth National Conference of AISA was held on December 6-7 at Muzaffarpur, Bihar. The Conference was inaugurated by CPI (ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya. Professor Jagmohan, Bhagat Singh’s nephew and the editor of his writings, sent a message to the Conference, which was read out at the inaugural session.
The Conference elected a 63-member National Council, a 29-member Executive, and the office bearers elected were: Indresh Maikhuri as President, Abhyuday, Mona Das, Balindra Saikia and Manish as Vice Presidents, Ravi Rai as General Secretary and Jeevan Surude, Nikka Singh, Ramayan Ram and Sandeep Singh as Joint Secretaries. Following the conference, on 16 December AISA held a March to the Lucknow Vidhan Sabha against the crushing of campus democracy through the imposition of Lyngdoh Committee proposals and closing of Lucknow University sine die. AISA is actively participating in the peasants’ struggle against forced land acquisition in Singur, and apart from students from Kolkata, a team of students from Delhi university, JNU and Jamia led by the JNUSU General Secretary Sandeep Singh from AISA visited Singur from 21-23 December.   

RYA National Conference

The National Conference of the Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) was held on December 11-12 at Comrade Chandrashekhar Hall in Siwan. A massive Anti-Imperialism March was held from the Samadhi Sthal of Comrade Chandrashekhar in Bindusar village, where his mother Kaushalya Devi had flagged it off. Cpmrade Dipankar Bhattacharya inaugurated the Conference.
Delegates from 11 states participated in the Conference, which elected a 61-member National Council and a 21-member Executive. Comrade Salim and Kamlesh Sharma were re-elected National President and General Secretary.

AIKSS Team Visits Vidarbha

On 7-8 December, a team of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and Lal Nishan Party visited areas of Yavatmal district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, which has been hit by farmers’ suicides. The team was comprised of AIKSS national convener Rajaram Singh, Prem Singh Gahlawat, Ishwari Prasad Kushwaha, Harvinder Singh, and Lal Nishan Party’s Central Committee member PK Mude, and VM Patangrao.
The team found that almost every farmer was under debt as they have no choice but to take a loan at every crop season because of highly increased input costs and their crops going to the market at a loss. The team visited Pusad, Umar Khed, Digras, and Darwah talukas of Yavatmal district and met family members of many farmers who had committed suicides. The AIKSS strongly condemned the police firing on farmers in Wani of Yavatmal district and demanded a compensation of Rs. 5 lakhs to the family of the killed farmer and Rs.50,000 to each injured. This incident has shown total governmental apathy towards the needs of the peasants.

Jan Sanskriti Manch National Conference

The 10th National Conference of JSM took place on November 18-19 at Ramprasad Bismil-Ashfaque Hall at Begusarai. The Conference which called for a culture of resistance against exploitation, hunger and loot, and resolved to celebrate the anniversaries of Bhagat Singh’s Birth Centenary and 1857, was preceded by a Rang Yatra which covered the entire town. Along with delegates from various states, the participants included film producer Sagar Sarhadi from Bombay and theatre activist Lokesh from Delhi. It was inaugurated with a recorded speech by renowned historian Ram Sharan Sharma who could not attend due to ill health.

The Conference elected Professor Manager Pandey and Pranay Krishna as President and General Secretary respectively.