THE undulating lush valleys of tea estates in West Bengal’s Darjeeling hills, Dooars and Terai regions are turning into valleys of death.
“Nearly 100 people died of starvation and acute malnutrition in the five closed tea gardens in Dooars since January this year with at least 10 of them dying last month itself”, reported Times of India on July 30, 2014, “The workers are paid only Rs 90 for eight hours a day to produce the expensive Darjeeling tea, while in Terai and Dooars the figure is Rs 95 a day.”

THE winter session of parliament is to begin with a two-day special sitting to observe the 125th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar and the adoption of the draft Constitution on November 26, 1949. There is no doubt that the legacy of Dr Ambedkar, the champion of social equality and one of the main architects of the Constitution should be commemorated. But the question is, how it is to be done.

STATEWIDE Jathas of BPMO (Bengal Platform of Mass Organisations) created huge impact among people in West Bengal. Jathas braved ferocious attacks from the ruling party, direct threats from senior ministers of the state and marched through thousands of villages and towns. The massive campaign brought forth sharply the burning issues of the people and mobilised tens of thousands in the streets.

HEAVY rains battered Chennai city and other parts of the state and has thrown life out of gear in several parts of Tamilnadu.  People of these areas are having a harrowing experience under water logging conditions.  Water has seeped into hundreds of houses, roads fully submerged under the flood water.   A team under the leadership of the Polit Bureau member and state secretary of CPI(M) G Ramakrishnan visited the flood affected villages and rendered assistance to the affected people.  Because of the incessant rains November 8-9 in Cuddalore district, several villages were worst affected by

WITH the West standing aside and preferring to be a virtual bystander as the carnage in Syria goes on unabated and the refugee crisis intensifying, Moscow has decided to step into the void to find a solution. Russian political support and military aid have been crucial for the government in Damascus as it withstood the military onslaught that was financed by the West and its allies. In the last two years, the situation on the ground has changed with American trained Syrian militias either surrendering or decamping with their weaponry to the Islamic State (IS) or the Jabhat al Nusra.