MORE than 40,000 people marched in Solapur on December 24, 2014 under the banner of the CPI(M), demanding that the state government immediately sanction the proposed housing projects for the poor, along with the necessary budgetary allocations. This march started from the CPI(M) office at Datta Nagar and culminated at the district collector's office. Thousands of members of the housing projects participated. A huge number of them were women. The march was led by CPI(M) Central Committee member Narsayya Adam, ex-MLA.

TWENTY Six years have elapsed since Safdar Hashmi was felled, while in performance, to the blows of the assassins. The play being performed was Halla Bol, in support of workers' demand of minimum wages. JANAM (Jana Natya Manch) came back to the site of the attack to complete the performance of the play on January 4 that year. On January 1, 1990, Janam performed a play here Natak Jari Hai, The play is going on. Indeed the show must go on, the show is going on.

THOUSANDS of BSNL employees sat on three-day dharnas in front of their offices/exchanges, demanding immediate action to provide mobile equipment, broadband modem and cables as well as installation of BTS/Towers to enable the employees to provide better services to the customers. The call for organising three-day dharnas from January 6 to January 8 was given by joint forum of all BSNL unions and associations. In New Delhi, the dharna was organised in front of the BSNL Corporate office, with participation of more than 300 employees.

AS the democratic organisations celebrate the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule, the dalits of the country face important and stiff challenges for their survival in the contemporary times. The weakening of the social welfare system has led to a social counter revolution led by the conservative rightwing forces and made dalits in particular socially and economically vulnerable. The idea that the neo-liberal State will be a limited State that does not interfere in societal affairs has strengthened social institutions that have given a new fillip to forces of social conservatism.

THE Planning Commission, set up under Jawaharlal Nehru’s prime ministership, was a logical expression of an idea that underlay India’s anti-colonial struggle, namely that in independent India, an improvement in the material conditions of life of the people, subjugated and plundered through a century and a half of colonial rule, required a comprehensive marshalling and conscious allocation of all national resources. It was an essential component of what Nehru had called India’s “tryst with destiny”.