ON August 29, at 10 pm, K Swaminathan, vice-president, SZIEF (AIIEA) called and asked me to free myself the next day to visit Nallur village near Thirukazhukundram.  Imparting the immediate necessity and urgency, he informed that the entire village was attacked by casteist forces when Vinayaka Chathurthi was celebrated by the dalits in that village. Accordingly, Uma Maheswari, Abinava Vidyatheerthan and myself (General Insurance, AIIEA) accompanied him to Nallur village.

THE retail prices of petrol and diesel have reached a new high in the past few days.  The price of petrol per litre is ranging from Rs 70 to 79 in various cities, making it an average of Rs 74 per litre.  The price of diesel is around Rs 61-62 per litre.  Ever since the daily price revision was introduced, the price of petrol has gone up by over Rs 6.17 per litre since July 1.As is well-known, India has to import 85 per cent of its oil requirements.  So the international price of crude oil has a direct bearing on the price of petrol and diesel at home.  The international price of crude oil

BY ruling not just that privacy is a fundamental right but that it is an integral part of the right to liberty, a nine judge bench of the Supreme Court, on August 24, held unanimously that the right to privacy would come under both the right to life, liberty (Article 14, Article 21 of the Constitution) and therefore part III of the constitution. The fundamental reasoning behind the verdicts delivered separately and as a collective was that these rights are the inherent rights of man, born with him, not granted by statute (even the constitution) and hence cannot be suspended or taken away.

‘TOILET vigilantism’, being practised in different parts of the country, has made the already vulnerable social divide starker. The government under the Swachh Bharat Mission has set a goal of constructing toilets to make the country open defecation free (ODF). Recently, a Hindi film too dealt with the importance of construction of toilets in villages. There is nothing wrong in it and in fact there is a dire need to have toilets in all households. But the desperation shown and the draconian method of ‘toilet vigilantism’ has even widened the social gap in the countryside.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau met in New Delhi on September 6-7. It has issued the following statement on September 7.DISMAL ECONOMIC SCENEAll the latest data coming in show that the economic slowdown has accelerated after demonetisation and the threat of recession is looming ahead. The estimated GDP growth in the quarter of the current financial year i.e., April to June is 5.7 per cent. The GDP growth rate has fallen four quarters in a row. The index of industrial production for this quarter shows a growth rate of only 1.8 per cent.