YOGI Adityanath, a BJP MP, has made a public statement to the effect that 100 Muslim girls are to be forcibly converted to Hinduism for every Hindu girl who is forced to embrace Islam. This is yet another example of the Sangh Parivar openly communalising the issue of violence against women and inciting hatred against the minority community by making the outrageous accusation that enforced conversion of Hindu women to Islam is a serious issue in this country.

COINCIDING with the 66th anniversary of the death of legendary Communist P Krishna Pillai, on August 19, 2014, 1789 volunteers under the banner of the Initiative for Rehabilitation and Palliative Care (IRPC) visited households in Kannur district inhabited by people requiring palliative care. It is estimated that in Kerala, around 0.3 to 0.4 percent of cancer patients require palliative care, which would mean that around 200 persons in every panchayat in the state, totaling to a whopping 1.25 lakh patients require palliative care. Seeking to intervene in the situation and provide some relief

RAJASTHAN chief minister Vasundhara Raje is planning to reduce several government schemes of social support to the poor because she says that the “people should not become too dependent upon the State”. If she was only re-casting the schemes, or getting rid of some schemes to put in place others with similar intent but greater effectiveness, or removing support to the poor in one form to provide it in another form, then her proposals might merit scrutiny; and a discussion at an empirical level might ensue on which of the alternatives would be more effective.

EIGHT days before it completes its first hundred days, the Modi government and the RSS/BJP suffered a major setback in the recently held by-elections in Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Out of a total of 18 seats, the BJP could only win ten this time. In comparison to the leads that the BJP and allies registered in the 2014 general elections, when they had eight out of the ten seats that went to polls in the by-elections in Bihar, they could win only four seats. And, that too, with very narrow margins. For instance, it won the Banka seat by a wafer thin margin of 711 votes.

TURN this Ekata Colony into a symbol and centre of resistance against communal forces.” With this inspiring call, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M A Baby inaugurated on August 24 a colony at Jola village, around 40 km from here, for the people uprooted from their villages and homes during last year’s communal riots in the district and its adjoining Shamli.