THE adoption of a federal, democratic and secular Constitution in Nepal is a historic occasion. The protracted struggle of the Nepalese people against feudal authoritarianism and for democracy has culminated in the establishment of a federal, democratic and secular State. Eight years after the interim Constitution, after a tortuous political process, the Constituent Assembly voted overwhelmingly (507 out of 601) to approve the Constitution.

TO MARK the 125TH birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, a seminar was organised in Coimbatore by the Coimbatore District Committee of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF). CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat delivered the special address.

ON his way to release the Kannada Daily at Kasaragod on September 10, Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary, visited Sundara Malekudiya who was admitted to a hospital in Mangaluru on September 3.48 year old Sundara Malekudiya, a tribal residing at the hilly area of Neriya village of  Dakshina Kannada district, was assaulted by a landlord, Gopala Gowda with a weed-cutting machine on July 27. He had suffered serious injury on his left elbow and has lost two fingers in his right hand.

ELECTIONS to both Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) were held on 11th September. Both these elections were being held at time when, after the first 500 days of the Modi regime, all the tall claims of ‘achhe din’ have withered away. The assaults on people’s rights and livelihood continue unabated, with unrelenting price rise and attempts to dilute various labour laws.

RIGHTS achieved by the working class all over the world are the result of bitter class struggles and sacrifices and not as mercy from any quarter. And this is equally true both for industrial and public services workers. In fact, trade union movement and right to strike are synonymous. It can be said that right to strike is the birthright of workers. The working class cannot forego right to collective bargaining including right to strike, whatever may be the circumstances.To paraphrase Lenin, strike is the most powerful weapon of democratic trade union movement.