ON February 3, 2014, the CITU’s Haryana state president Surender Singh Malik, who is also a member of the Haryana State Minimum Wages Advisory Board, raised in the board’s meeting the demand that the minimum wage must be at least Rs 15,000 in Haryana. The Advisory Board’s meeting was called by the principal secretary of the Department of Labour and Employment of the state government, who is also chairman of the said board, in Chandigrah.
EVEN as the Obama administration is trying to get a recalcitrant Israeli government to give some meaningful concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the beleaguered Palestinians got a strong endorsement for their just cause from the American Studies Association (ASA). The Association, America’s oldest and largest academic association devoted to an interdisciplinary study of American culture and history, passed a resolution in the second week of December, agreeing to join a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
CHERTHALA in Alappuzha is a hamlet that once made a history because of its role in the formation of the present day Kerala. The same hamlet once again witnessed another historic event on February 1, 2014. On the day, Vayalar, where hundreds of communists made the supreme sacrifice in the struggle for independence, wholeheartedly welcomed the communist cadre on the day
AS per media reports, the union finance ministry have decided to sell the shares of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Engineers India Limited (ElL) through the block deal route.
THE CPI(M) and Left Front unleashed a massive campaign on peoples’ issues for more than a month in West Bengal. Left Front called for the campaign from 3rd January to 3rd February, which got a huge response from the people. The campaign focused on the restoration of democracy, immediate halt to atrocities against women, against price rise, fair prices for peasants, defending the rights of the workers, punishment of the chit fund fraudsters, against anarchy in educational institutions.
AMID slogans, songs and drum beats hailing the success of the second national conference of the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM), its newly re-elected chairman Bajuban Riyan called on the 345 delegates representing 14 states to take the inspiring message of the conference –intensify struggle, build unity and strengthen organisation, to every village and block where adivasis reside.
HUNDREDS of peasants from Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Karnataka took out a march and staged a militant dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on January 31, 2014, against the implementation of the Kasturirangan committee recommendations on Western Ghats. The dharna was inaugurated by Hannan Mollah, general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS). Amra Ram, president of the AIKS, presided over the meeting.
THIRTY-TWO members of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), that represents nearly 55 lakh organised rural workers from states as far as Punjab and Tripura to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka, met at Chennai on January 29 and 30, 2014, to discuss the unbearable conditions that have been thrust on the mass of the Indian people, eighty four crores of whom live on a paltry Rs 20 a day.
IS Aadhaar compulsory? If so, what is its legal basis? Without Aadhaar, can one buy subsidised cooking gas? What is the government's policy on this? In fact, the UPA government’s response to these questions is marked by “intentional ambiguity”. Ambiguity is intentional because the intentions of the government are completely different from what it proclaims; hence, the ambiguity maintained is deliberate. The UPA government's strategy of “intentional ambiguity” regarding Aadhaar has had elements of obfuscation, misinterpretation, inconsistency and dishonesty.
MEETING at Delhi on January 31 and February 1, the national Secretariat of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) called upon all its affiliates to conduct countrywide campaigns and agitations on two important issues confronting a large number of workers in the country.