ELAP 2015: Resist US Destabilisation Efforts

ELAP 2015 (Encounter of the Progressive forces of Latin America) was organised in Quito, Ecuador from September 28-30, 2015. ELAP is organised by the Allianz de Pais, the ruling party of that country. 63 Communist, Left and progressive parties/movements participated in this conference along with our Party.The Communist Party of Cuba, Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), Communist Party of Chile, Sandinistas of Nicaragua, MAS of Bolivia, FMLN of El Salvador, PSUV of Venezuela are some of the prominent parties, which participated in the conference from within the continent.

UTTAR PRADESH: Sangh Parivar Fomenting Communal Riots

GROUPS aligned with the Sangh Parivar are doing everything in their power to engineer riots in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of prime minister, Narendra Modi. Most unfortunately, Congress leaders are also supporting their BJP counterparts in this unholy conspiracy. On October 5, so-called ‘holy’ men and religious leaders gave a call to take out a protest rally against the refusal of the district administration to allow them to immerse Ganesh statues in the Ganga in the third week of September.

TELANGANA: Need for Sub Plan and Reservations for Minorities

GIVEN the dire socio-economic conditions of minorities in the country, there is urgent need to have a Sub Plan for them separately as also 12 per cent reservation in education and jobs. This was underscored by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury who addressed a state-level convention on these two issues in Hyderabad on October 5th as chief guest. He criticised the Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not implementing his poll promise of providing 12 per cent reservations to minorities if voted to power.

Remembering Comrade Dasaratha Deb on His Birth Centenary

AS the oath-taking ceremony of members elected to the first Lok Sabha was in progress in Parliament House, New Delhi, in 1952, a Leftist member of Parliament from West Bengal drew the attention of the Speaker to a fair and handsome tribal youth and said, “He is Dasaratha Deb, elected to Parliament as a Communist candidate from East Tripura (ST reserved) seat. But still he is being hounded by police with arrest warrant. He has been elected while being in underground.” The Leftist member then urged Speaker G V Mavalankar to intervene in lifting the arrest warrant against Dasaratha Deb.

Left Front Wins Siliguri Panchayats

THE Left Front achieved a significant victory as it won Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad. Elections to the three-tier panchayat in Siliguri sub division in Darjeeling district were held on October 3. Elections in Siliguri were peaceful except for some sporadic incidents. People from the rural and semi-rural areas, and tea gardens have squarely defeated the TMC.Left Front has won six seats out of nine at the council level (as a separate hill council exists in Darjeeling hill areas, the rest of the district falls within Mahakuma Parishad).

India’s INDC for Paris Climate Summit

INDIA finally announced its mitigation pledge last week, its so-called Intended Nationally Determined Contribution or INDC for the approaching Climate Summit in Paris in December this year which is expected to conclude an international agreement to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions so as to rein in, and hopefully in time reverse, runaway climate change. India’s INDC has been broadly welcomed including by many civil society groupings.

Once More on Poverty Estimates

A REPORT in The Hindu (October 6) quotes a World Bank paper to the effect that the head-count poverty ratio has declined for the world as a whole from 14.2 percent of the global population in 2011 to 12.8 percent in 2012, which presumably also implies a decline for India.

Thinking Together

Why is the CPI(M) not including the CPI (Maoist) in the Left unity platform? Is the Maoist party not a Left party?

S. Roopesh, Bangalore

“Strengthen Federalism by Restructuring Centre – State Relations”

Below we reproduce the note submitted by Manik Sarkar, chief minister of Tripura to a meeting on federalism and centre-state relations organised in New Delhi on September 30, by the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. INDIA requires a more federal system to strengthen the democratic framework of the Indian State. The powers of the states in the legislative, administrative and financial spheres are limited even though they have a major responsibility to ensure development and fulfill the needs of the people.

AIDWA Fights for "My Choice, My Right"

IN a democratic country where the constitution provides the right to live with dignity to all its citizens, choice becomes an important matter.

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