THE assembly elections in Karnataka are due this May. The schedule for elections is about to be announced and informally it is known that the elections will be held in the second week of May. Election process would be set in motion in March and the model code of conduct would set in by April beginning.  Karnataka assembly election has attracted national attention, this being the only state in southern India ruled by the BJP.  Karnataka has shown two long term political trends for the last four decades – it has never elected the same party consecutively in assembly elections.

THE first state conference of the Asom Krishi Shramik Union, the Assam state unit of the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) was held successfully on January 31, 2023 in Rangia of Kamrup rural district. Senior leader and former MP, Uddhab Barman hoisted the flag of the union, followed by paying floral tributes to the martyrs column.Vikram Singh, joint secretary of the AIAWU inaugurating the conference discussed the sorry state of employment in rural India. AIAWU will continue to fight for a central legislation for rural workers and for pension to rural labourers.

THOSE in West Bengal who laboured under the delusion that the Trinamool Congress had learnt a lesson from the countrywide condemnation it drew after making a mockery of the democratic voting process in the last panchayat polls in 2018 now know from the very recent happenings in the state that there is no room for even an iota of hope of revival of democratic freedom as long as the Mamata Banerjee-led party is in power.

THE inhuman and cruel sanctions of the US on Cuba must end, and with the support of the people, Cuba will fight against American imperialism, said revolutionary hero Ernesto Che Guevara’s daughter Aleida Guevara at the Cuba Solidarity meeting held in Hyderabad on January 22.She asserted that to achieve this goal, solidarity from countries all over the globe is vital.The auditorium was jam-packed with supporters and the general public who even sat outside the auditorium to listen to her speech.

THE Tamilnadu Platform for People's Unity has been observing every year Mahatma Gandhi's memorial day on January 30 as anti-bigotry day, and conducting various programmes in the state exposing the dangerous activities of the BJP and Sangh Parivar forces that are trying to divide the people on communal lines for its political gains.  In the last two years, there was no such programme because of the pandemic situation.