DEAR Son,I know you are only twelve years old and wondering why I am writing to you on such a subject as sexual harassment. But son, as you might have read in Hindustan Times, a newspaper you distribute to all the subscribers in your class, nine eminent Indians have written open letters on rape to their children, friends and colleagues. Moreover, I noticed that in your Civics textbook, you are learning about discrimination between men and women. Also, you told us about a workshop in your school for girls and boys.

THE 13th Karnataka state conference of CITU was held successfully from October 17 to 19 at Kudalasangama in Bagalakote in the northern part of the state. Kudalasangama is a historical place where a movement for uplift of the downtrodden had began in the 12th century. In the 12th century, Basavanna was the finance minister under King Bijjala and he started the famous ‘vachana chaluvali’, along with ‘sharanas’, for the uplift of the downtrodden in society. Basavanna was a Brahmin by birth, but he dedicated his whole life for the cause of Dalit and other oppressed classes.

IT has been evident for some time that India has been slowly but surely veering away from the principles of non-alignment that defined its foreign policy for more than four decades after independence. The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi's decision to skip the important NAM summit in Venezuela is only a stark illustration of this reality. Previous UPA and NDA governments had started the process of downgrading the movement founded by the leaders of anti-colonial struggle like Jawaharlal Nehru, Achmed Sukarno, Khwame Nkrumah and Gamel Abdel Nasser.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared support for the struggle of the Balochi people during his Independence Day speech.  Since then, the Modi government has been actively supporting the cause of the Balochistan people in Pakistan.  What is the CPI(M)’s understanding on the issue?Piyush Kumar, DelhiBALOCHISTAN is a resource-rich province of Pakistan which borders Afghanistan and Iran.  There has been, over the decades, spurts of insurgency for seeking a separate status for Balochistan with some forces demanding independence. At different points of time, the armed insurgenc

INDIA is facing a deepening crisis on the employment front.  According to a new Employment-Unemployment (EU) Survey conducted by the Labour Bureau, unemployment in India is running at a five year high of 5 percent of the workforce who are fifteen years and above.  Over a third of the people at work are employed for less than a year.