Below are the excerpts of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Lecture delivered by Sitaram Yechury on November 22, 2014. The memorial lecture was organised by the Jana Natya Manch.

VI

This hegemony of the `ideas' of ruling classes, as Gramsci explains, is not enforced merely by the State.The State is only the "outer ditch" behind which stands a powerful system of "fortresses and earth works", a network of cultural institutions and values which buttress the rule and domination of the ruling classes.

AS part of the nationwide campaign of the Left parties against the communal and anti-people policies of the NDA government, five Left parties in Tamil Nadu have started a campaign programme on December 8.
CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, RSP and SUCI(Communist) are jointly organising the campaign. The campaign will conclude on December 14.
In Chennai, G Ramakrishnan, D Pandian, S Balasundaram and Rangasamy, the leaders of the respective Left parties led the launching of the campaign that began with a demonstration.

Below we reproduce the speech of Manik Sarkar, chief minister of Tripura at the meeting convened by the prime minister on the restructuring of the Planning Commission held on December 7, 2014.

CREDIT Suisse brings out a Global Wealth Report every year. The current year’s report takes up for specific discussion the issue of wealth inequality. The term “wealth” in the report covers only household wealth and refers to the value of assets at current prices; it includes in other words capital gains and hence the effects of speculative factors.

SUN Raha Hai Na Tu (Are you listening?) is a campaign against violence on women; violence which is perpetrated not only on the body of a woman but also on her conscience. Molestation, eve-teasing, comments, rape and even murder has become a common thing for the girls and women in Delhi-NCR. It has perhaps become a common thing for all of us. We have perhaps started forgetting the anger that was stirred and roused in us by the tragic and brutal incident of Nirbhaya case in 2012. We were all on the roads asking for “Justice” for Nirbhaya.