AT the joint call of Delhi units of 11 central trade unions (CTUs), a strike was observed on July 20 by unorganised sector workers in Delhi and adjoining areas of Noida and Ghaziabad in NCR over their various demands including enforcement of notified minimum wage of Rs 13,896 for unskilled workers and fixation of minimum wage at Rs 20,000.Their demands included common wage board for the entire NCR region; safety measures at work places; regularisation of contract workers; registration and welfare benefits to construction workers; stopping the removal of street vendors; constitution of all l

Hapless Financial ManagementTHE new government in Tripura has run into a deep financial crisis just within four months of assuming office. This was evident from an order dated June 29. The order signed by the principal secretary, department of finance, government of Tripura, has instructed all the DDOs of different government departments that they should deposit the interests earned on the money of different schemes to the government treasury unless the scheme guidelines required the amount of interest to be spent for the same purpose.

IT  is a multifaceted  challenge undertaken against the hegemony of  middlemen, mill owners, anti-farmer  state and central government policies and ruling party’s  apathetic attitude, distress sale and  farmer suicides. In a first of its sorts after its recent formation a year back, the  West Bengal state unit of  All India Agricultural Workers Union  (AIAWU) has decided to reach  to  more than 11,000 villages throughout  the state within a fortnight, taking the call of jail bharo programme on August 9, called by the  AIKS  on the plight of the farmers.  Trade Unions have decided to join in

A DELEGATION of CPI(M) led by Nilotpal Basu, Polit Bureau member and ex MP and Haryana secretary Surender Singh visited Firozpur Jhirka and village Kolgaon on July 22 to meet the family of lynching victim Akbar Khan alias Rakbar Khan by a vigilante group on the intervening night of July 20-21 in Ramgarh (Alwar) Rajasthan.The delegation noted that this lynching is particularly shocking as it comes within days of the stinging Supreme Court judgment over vigilante crimes and such groups taking upon themselves the functions of law enforcement, based on self-declared allegations.Anger and anguis

SINCE May 22 which has become a black day for the people of Tamil Nadu, following  the brutal killing of 13 innocent protestors against the “all powerful” Sterlite Industries, a unit of Vedanta Group, the state police has started defending its ‘stooge behaviour’ across the state. It has unleashed a reign of terror among the people of Tuticorin through a series of raids and arrests upon the people, completely disregarding the rule of law along the way.When the CPI(M) had planned to organise a protest meeting against the police massacre, permission was denied to organise it.