THE third national convention of women employed in the banking sector was organised by the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) in Chennai on December 17. The convention gave a call to defend the public sector, protect national unity and fight for gender equality.Inaugurating the convention, AIDWA general secretary Mariam Dhawale said even after 70 years of Independence, people are struggling for their basic needs and a demand prioritised in this women’s conference report is for a separate toilet for women employees in bank branches.
THE constitution of India is the foundational document that guides our country's polity. For every Indian citizen, the constitution secures justice, freedom of thought, expression, belief, worship and faith as well as equality of status. The constitution was the outcome of our national movement for independence from colonial rule that involved people from all strata of Indian society.
THE president of India gave a sympathetic hearing to a delegation led by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat and Jharkhand Adivasi Adhikar Manch secretary Praful Linda who submitted a memorandum to him on December 22. The delegation which comprised adivasi leaders of the Chotanagpur area of Jharkhand were from three project affected areas in which more than three lakh people, a large number of them adivasis will be evicted. They were Mohan Oraon, Dr Ashok, Anita Tirkey, Deepika Bara, Aloys Minz, Surendra Oraon, Mukesh Oraon and Fildri Toppo.
ON behalf of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, general secretary, has sent messages of greetings to KP Oli, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and Prachanda Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) on the victory of their alliance in Nepal elections.
THE secretariat of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, in session in New Delhi has expressed its shock over the sudden demise of Comrade NM Sundaram, one of the senior leaders of Indian Trade Union movement and especially that of the insurance workers movement December on 26, 2017 at Chennai.
THE All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), in a statement issued on December 27, has said that it is deeply disturbed by the government of India’s presentation of the amendment to the The Indian Forest Act, 1927 before the parliament on December 27, which has removed the bamboo plant from the status of a tree after 90 years.
AN unprecedented wave of workers’ and farmers’ struggles spread across the whole country through the year that is coming to an end. It challenged the Modi government and its pro-rich, anti-working people, anti-farmer policies, forcing the government to reverse course in some cases. These battles spanned issues related to falling living standards, growing inequality and loot by the ruling classes, as also the communal politics of the Sangh Parivar that is trying to divide people on religious identity lines.
LOOKING back at the year 2017 that has just ended, there is an important aspect of the national situation that must be noted. The year unfolded with the forces of reaction on the ascendant. But by the last quarter of the year, the forces of resistance against the right wing offensive had begun to assert themselves and make their presence felt.The people have borne the brunt of the right-wing offensive in the year 2017. Under the Modi regime, the Hindutva forces became more emboldened.
MADHYA Pradesh today is another laboratory for Hindutva vaadi policies. Manuvaadi thinking, attacks on the rights and equal status of dalits, adivasis, women and are the order of the day. Simultaneously, the BJP government of Shivraj Patil is ruthlessly implementing neo-liberal policies by handing over the natural resources of the state to corporate and land mafia. Corruption has reached new heights while employment, industry and the farm sector are all devastated. Welfare schemes have either been scrapped or are ridden with corruption. The 15th state conference of the CPI(M) resolved
THE Judgement by Justice OP Saini in the 2G case, which acquits all the accused, has justifiably created a fresh controversy in the country. We are told by the Congress and its sympathisers that the entire 2G case was a figment of the CAG’s imagination and the media, that the CAG and the Supreme Court were completely at fault, and A Raja, the then minister of Communications and IT, and the UPA were not at all to blame.We could have accepted the argument that the prosecution could not show criminality. But OP Saini’s Judgement goes beyond that.