AGED 70 years, Comrade Partho Kar died on November 22 in NRS Hospital in Kolkatta. Comrade Partho was suffering from cancer, which was detected quite late. He was associated with Party publication and Party papers for a long time.In 1978 Comrade Partho Kar came from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand (then in Bihar) as a whole timer to work in the central office of the kisan sabha. In 1979 the Hindi paper of the Party-Loklehar started publication of which he was assigned managerial responsibilities. He worked till 2001 in Loklehar/People’s Democracy managerial office.

THE BJP government, since assuming office for a second term in May 2019, has been working overtime to take away the rights of workers through codifications of labour laws, a euphemism for corporate unbridled process of profit maximisation. Accordingly, the labour minister introduced the Code on Wages and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code in the Lok Sabha on July 23. The Code on Wages was passed by Lok Sabha on July 30 and got the Rajya Sabha nod on August 2. The president gave his assent on August 8.

FOLLOWING are the candidates of CPI(M) for Jharkhand assembly elections .1. Subhash Munda                                          Hatiya2. Praful Linda                                                Khijri3. Vishvadev Singh Munda                            Silli4. Swapan Mahto                                            Behragoda5. Naresh Bharti                                              Chatra6. Mohammad Iqbal                                        Pakud7. Gopin Soren                                                Maheshpur8.

THE problems of the electricity sector have grown with the neoliberal reforms of the sector that started from the 90’s. The Enron style reforms introduced high cost private power into the grid in the 90’s, followed by the Electricity Act 2003, which virtually de-licensed generation and abolished planning of the power sector. We now have the new proposal of separating what is called “carriage from the content”, which shorn of this new English, means that electricity flowing though wires will be owned by separate entities than the one owning the wires.

NOW that the three-day wonder of the Fadnavis government has disappeared, one can look back at the whole sordid episode for what lessons can be learnt.happened on the night of November 23 and morning of 24 was a brazen assault on the constitution and democratic principles. More disturbingly, three constitutional authorities were involved in this self-incriminating project – the governor, the prime minister and the president of India.