IQBAL Ahmad, resident of Anantnag had tears rolling down his eyes as his wife called him from a local police station in Anantnag after three days of jostling. This is how; apparently all over Kashmir valley; the people are forced to queue up at the police stations to call their relatives in mainland India; in Srinagar city just 300 landlines are made functional, it’s ridiculous! Iqbal, along with two other elected panchayat representatives, who are from the Bakarwal tribal community had come to tell their woes to the leaders of the political parties in New Delhi.

THOUSANDS of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA workers) staged a sit-in dharna at Vijayawada on August 26 demanding release of their wages that are pending for the last eight months. They also opposed the grading system introduced recently by the government intending to harass them and is a threat to their job security. Police detained many ASHA workers in their respective districts from 25th itself. Family members of ASHAs also were taken into custody at some places.

THE Centre is trying to convert Kashmir into India’s Palestine by removing Article 370, splitting it into two and converting both into union territories, said Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary earlier this week.Hitting out at the Modi government for an ‘Israeli-model military occupation’ in Jammu and Kashmir, Yechury called on Indian patriots to join the battle for the soul and character of the country.Delivering a lecture organised by the AKG Padana Gaveshana Kendram and the CPI(M) Trivandrum district committee on the centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and convert the state

IT WAS a rainy afternoon.  Two student rallies withstanding heavy rain, culminated at Dumdum, the very locality where the seeds of SFI were sown,  in August  1970 through  the formation a preparatory committee.  SFI president, V P Sanu hoisted the white flag of Independence, Democracy and Socialism, marking the beginning of the golden jubilee celebrations of SFI.

On August 13, Tribal Youth Federation of Tripura organised a special convention at Agartala Town Hall with ten-point demands to the state and central government to resolve the matters of employment and jobs for youth, demands regarding education policies and livelihoods of the people.