WEST BENGAL: Memorial Meeting for Comrade Sukomal Sen

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury called for building up alternative policies to fight against the BJP. ‘What the country needs are policies, not leaders’, he said while addressing the memorial meeting of Comrade Sukomal Sen in Kolkata.CPI(M) Central Control Commission chairman and Central Committee member Comrade Sukomal Sen passed away on November 22. Rich tributes were paid to him in the memorial meeting. His contribution to the trade union movement, particularly in the fight against neoliberal attacks was remembered.Yechury was speaking just after 24 hours of Gujarat results.

Scrap FRDI Bill & Protect Depositors’ Interests: BEFI

THE Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), in its office bearers meeting held on December 17, 2017 at Chennai decided to launch a series of struggle programmes to defeat the draconian anti-people FRDI bill and to protect the interests of the depositors.BEFI has called upon all its state units to collect crores of signatures from the public as part of the campaign launched by the United Forum of Bank Unions to be submitted to the speaker of the Lok Sabha in the budget session of the parliament.BEFI will conduct street campaigns, demonstrations culminating in a day long dharna in all the

AILU Condemns Hoisting of Saffron Flag on Udaipur Court Building

THE All India Lawyers Union, in a statement issued on December 20, has condemned in strongest term the action of some so-called Hindu organisation hoisting saffron flag on the district court building at Udaipur in Rajasthan on December 14, 2017.

TRIPLE TALAQ BILL: HASTY APPROVAL, SAYS AIDWA

IT has been reported in the media that the union cabinet has approved a bill making it a criminal offence to pronounce triple talaq apart from some other provisions. The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), in a statement issued on December 19 has condemned the hasty and extremely undemocratic manner in which the bill is being sought to be passed in the parliament without any public discussion and discussion with women’s organisations and groups working with issues related to Muslim women.AIDWA is against the criminalisation of pronouncement of triple talaq.

Red Star over Nepal

THE big victory for the alliance of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) in the federal and provincial elections is a politically significant development for Nepal. It will have its repercussions in South Asia too. The Communist alliance has won a decisive majority in the parliament elections held under the new constitution adopted in September 2015.

WFTU Working Women Asia Pacific Regional Conference

THE WFTU Asia Pacific regional conference of women workers was held in Hanoi, Vietnam on December 6-8, 2017 as a prelude to the World Working Women’s Congress scheduled to be held in Panama from March 8-10, 2018. The conference was hosted by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL). 14 women trade unionists from seven countries – Bangladesh, India, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Sri Lanka, representing 10 affiliated unions, participated in the conference.

ANDHRA PRADESH: Vizag Fest - A Celebration of Tradition & Science

NEARLY four lakh people visited the 10-day Vizag Fest at the sprawling Andhra University Engineering College Exhibition Grounds in Visakhapatnam. People from all walks of life, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, visited the festival held between December 1 and December 10. There were many who visited the festival on all the days. In a way, the people of Visakhapatnam felt that it was their own. The fest was a mix of many progressive activities.A book fair with over 100 stalls from all over the country was the main attraction.

AIDWA’S SAVE INDIA CONVENTION: Women Call for a United Struggle against Regressive Politics

THE ‘Save India Convention against Assault on Women’s Citizenship Rights’, organised by the All India Democratic Women’s Association was held in Mavlankar Hall, New Delhi on December 8. More than a thousand women delegates attended from Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal to pledge their solidarity and support to the struggle against the anti-women policies and socially reactionary politics of the BJP-RSS regime.

The Horror of Private Medical Care in India

SEVEN year old Aadhya spent the last two weeks of her life at a ‘state of the art’ private medical facility, her survival dependant on an artificial ventilator. Her brain had probably stopped functioning several days before she died, but we will never know for sure. While a young child suffered silently, for she had lost the ability to cry, Fortis hospital in Gurgaon – a corporate run Frankenstein – was busy planning how they could extract more from Aadhya’s frantic parents.

TAMIL NADU: Kanyakumari Devastated by Ockhi Cyclone

END of November saw the fury of Ockhi cyclone in the three southern districts of Tamil Nadu namely Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi. In this, Kanyakumari bore the brunt while the cyclone was changing its direction towards the western coast. This district is well known for its coconut, rubber and plantain trees besides paddy, which form the economic backbone of the district. The strong gale uprooted each and every tree in the district besides numerous electricity poles bringing the normal life to a stanstill.

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