TO mark the 125TH birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), in association with India International Centre, has organised a series of lectures by eminent personalities on the theme ‘Indian Modern and Nehru’. The first of these talks was held on 22 November 2014. The talk was delivered by eminent historian Professor Irfan Habib. He spoke on ‘Jawaharlal Nehru and Indian National Movement’. The talk, which was chaired Professor Mushirul Hasan, was attended by a large number of people from various walks of life.
THE CITU has called upon all workers in the coal mines and establishments to continue their protest against the nefarious game plan of the central government to commence the process of denationalisation of coal mining through the promulgation of an Ordinance containing enabling provision for allowing private sector in commercial mining of coal.
Below we reproduce the press statement of the Communist Party of Ecuador on the 16th International Meeting of Communists and Workers’ Parties held in Guayaquil, Ecuador from November 13-15.
BSNL is one of the biggest public sector undertakings in the country with 2,40,000 employees, providing telecommunication services even in the remotest parts of the country. Since its inception in the year 2000, successive governments have tried their best to ruin this company so as to enable private telecom firms to mint money by looting the people. However, united struggles led by BSNL Employees Union (BSNLEU) have frustrated their attempts. Nevertheless, BSNL has been considerably weakened and is lagging behind in competition with the private companies.
THE Gujarat government appointed Nanavati Commission has finally submitted its final report on the Godhra incident and the post-Godhra carnage, 2002. Media reports state that the Commission has found no reason to summon the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in order to probe the responsibility and role of the state government in the riots. This reported conclusion contradicts the evidence provided to different committees and commissions setup in the last decade to investigate the pre-planned character of the riots.
RECENTLY, the state of Tamil Nadu witnessed two different and important struggles. When we compare the approach of the government and the police officials towards both these struggles, the double stand of the AIADMK government gets exposed.
Of the two struggles, the first one was, AIDWA's massive protest programme against the government run TASMAC liquor shops; the second one was, DYFI's protest call demanding more ration shops.
THE world today is witnessing a rather novel phenomenon, namely a pervasive tendency towards political uprisings by the urban middle class. Not just the leaders, but even the bulk of the participants in such uprisings are educated, are reasonably well-off, and make extensive use of social media channels for keeping in touch with one another.
JAMMU Kashmir Awami Mutahida Mahaz released its Election Manifesto on November 21 in Srinagar. The Manifesto titled “Towards a democratic alternative platform” asserts that the people of Jammu & Kashmir are facing various stressful problems which have their roots in the political uncertainty and the presence of harsh anti-people laws and acts. The political rights of the people have been extremely limited while the administration is bereft of transparency and responsiveness.
EXPOSING the unhindered corrupt practices in both political and bureaucratic levels in Kerala, the secretary of Public Works Department and senior IAS officer T O Sooraj has been suspended from the service. Action against Sooraj, known to be very close to the Chief Minister and several others including industries minister P K Kunjalikkutty, was taken after vigilance raids unearthed huge assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
MASSIVE protest action took place in rural West Bengal on November 26 against centre’s move to dilute MGNREGA , corruption in rural employment programme in the state and demanding remunerative prices for agricultural produces. Four Left peasant organisations called for stoppage of agricultural-related work and demonstrations while the CITU called upon the rural unorganised working people to join in the struggle.