SINCE 1986, Coimbatore city in the state of Tamil Nadu has been witnessing communal disturbances of varying degrees.  But, they involved neither rioting nor looting. After the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, violence erupted in the city.  Nevertheless, the situation was then contained without any further flare-up.  But, in November and December 1997, following the murder of a traffic policeman, the premier industrial city witnessed a communal conflagration unprecedented in its history.

THE environment of politics and culture is undergoing a major transformation in Indian society and its impact is reflected in Puducherry also. The minorities, the downtrodden and the working classes are continuously being threatened and getting affected. In this context, a Forum for Social Harmony-Puducherry  for uniting all the progressive mass organisations, trade unions, Confederation of government employees associations, civil society organisations, was launched in Puducherry.As a first step, the Forum organised a special seminar in July on ‘Challenges to Social Harmony’.

THIS Independence Day, the Modi government has yet again made it clear that in our country, none but one person has the freedom of speaking his ‘Mann ki Baat’. Not even the democratically-elected chief minister of a state.Before the Independence Day, Doordarshan Tripura had recorded a speech of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, which was to be telecast on August 15.

A HUGE rally was organised in Visakhapatnam on August 26 to protest the government’s move to privatise public sector undertakings. The CPI(M) city committee organised the rally from the railway station to the RTC Complex on the slogan: ‘Save Public Sector, Save Visakhapatnam and Nation’. Hundreds of people joined the rally which ended with a public meeting at the RTC Complex.Addressing the public meeting, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member B V Raghavulu said that privatisation of public sector companies was an anti-national act. The public sector units were built with the money of the nation.

THE joint peasant struggle in Maharashtra, which began with the novel peasant strike on June 1, reached a new crescendo on August 14, the eve of Independence Day.