WORKERS at Samsung India Electronics’ Sriperumbudur plant, near Chennai, staged a strike that lasted 38 days, beginning on September 9, 2024. This movement resonated not only with workers across India but also inspired labor movements internationally. South Korea based Samsung Electronics, established its Indian subsidiary, Samsung India Electronics Private Limited, in December 1995, starting operations in Noida, near New Delhi, primarily focused on smartphone production.

THE little girl has a smile that would light up the darkest space. Stretching out her little hands, she greets us, three strangers, P K Sreemathi, C S Sujatha and myself as though she knows us. We are here in Meppady to meet affected families of the Wayanad tragedy. Even two months later, so deep is the trauma that none of the survivors we meet speak about the horror of that night on July 30th, or how they survived.

THE victim in the RG Kar case has a new name born in the womb of protests against the barbarities she had to face. She is called Tilottama – one who combines in herself the best of all. The solidarity struggles for justice for Tillottama — have shaken not just Bengal but the country. Thousands of self-mobilised citizens, their conscience awakened  have come out in street protests in solidarity . The West Bengal Junior Doctors organisation and the Joint Platform of Doctors are in the forefront.

TO write about Comrade Sitaram Yechury in the past tense is exceedingly difficult and painful for me. For five decades our political lives have been closely and intricately intertwined while we have together gone through various phases and ups and downs of the Party and the Left movement. Our comradeship began 50 years ago, beginning at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1974, continuing in the Students’ Federation of India and later in the Party.

THE newly appointed union power minister in the NDA government has swiftly pushed forward with privatisation initiatives since taking office. A key move is the directive to unbundle the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) into three separate entities for corporatisation—one for generation, one for transmission, and one for distribution.