AS soon as trends of assembly election results in Tripura showed victory for the BJP-IPFT alliance, the so-called champions of peace and harmony started to reveal their fangs right from the counting halls, particularly in Sonamura. BJP miscreants held up counting of votes in Dhanpur assembly constituency for about 10 hours and tried to push out outgoing Chief Minister and CPI(M) candidate Manik Sarkar from the counting hall with a view to alter the result in their favour at a stage when he was leading by about 6,000 votes from his nearest BJP contestant.

THE 16th All India People's Science Congress (AIPSC) was organised in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, from February 9-12, 2018. The Congress was attended by 850 delegates representing 38 peoples’ science organisations. Discussions in the Congress, in plenary sessions, sub-plenaries, and workshops, focused on areas in which the People’s Science Movement is active. These included discussions on education and literacy, science and rationality, self-reliance and science and technology, health, rural and urban development, etc.

B V Raghavulu addressing the Left Parties and mass organisations dharna at the Parliament Street in New Delhi demanding Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.Left Parties held a two-day on March 6-7.  They demanded that the union government grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh and fulfill the promises made in the AP Re-organisation Act. Later, when the protestors tried to conduct a rally to the ministry of home affairs, police arrested them. They were released later.  

A NATIONAL Convention on Motor Vehicles Act Amendment Bill was held on February 15 at Mavlankar Hall in New Delhi. It was organised by the Co-ordination Committee of Road Transport Workers Organisations and other stakeholders. The organisations associated to the AITUC, CITU, INTUC, HMS, LPF, UTUC and AICCTU have jointly organised the convention.K Hari Prasad, Member of Parliament and member of the Select Committee on MV Act Amendment Bill addressed the convention as the chief guest.

WEST Bengal has witnessed a week of militant protests, resulting in street battles with police, attacks on protestors, police brutality, but above all resistance from students, youth, women and workers.On February 15, the SFI marched in Kolkata demanding elected students’ unions. The state government has proposed nominated students’ councils in colleges and universities, robbing the democratic rights of students to elect their representatives. This decision has in fact started the process of de-unionisation.