A seminar on the expose of the Rafale deal was held in the Constitution Club at New Delhi by the Jan Ekta Jan Adhikar Andolan (JEJAA). There were experts who dealt with the topic and exposed the true lies spread by the BJP government and punctured their balloon of “national security rhetoric”. If in concise, the deal to buy the fighter jets from Dassault company of France could be stated ; then it is “discarding the national interests”, “high level corruption”, “crony capitalism at its zenith” and “inept PM with overstepping intervention in handling the affairs”.

IN Homer’s epic Odyssey, the Greek hero Odysseus comes across a tribe of ‘lotus eaters’ who remain in a state of blissful forgetfulness after eating psychotropic plants, probably poppy pods or blue water lily. In the 19th century, Lord Tennyson revived this charming vision in his poem ‘The Lotos-Eaters’. Such was the popularity of this idea that essayist Thomas de Quincey even wrote a book called Confessions of an English Lotus Eater, describing his own experiences when high on laudanum.

THE Kurnool district committees of CPI(M) and AP Rytu Sangham have organised a  48 hour long fast which ended in a rally with coffins, carrying photos of 38 farmers who committed suicide in the last six months in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. They demanded the state government to provide ex-gratia and other support to the family members of the farmers who had committed suicide due to failure of crops and heavy debt burden.  The 48 hour fast commenced on October 13 and the protest rally to the collectorate was held on 15th.

DAILY Desher Katha, the popular, progressive daily resumed its publication after nine days, from October 11. The eagerly awaited welcome moment came as the High Court of Tripura put a stay on the illegal and politically ill motivated order of the DM of West Tripura stopping the publication of the paper on October 1. As I submit this copy for press, news from across the state is pouring as how readers are welcoming the order and looking for their copies of the newspaper.

IN what will go down as a Black Day in the history of post independence journalism in India, Daily Desher Katha, a 40 year old progressive and popular newspaper published from Tripura was forced to close down at 11.35 pm on October 1 by an order by the DM and collector of West Tripura at the behest of the BJP led coalition government of the state.