THE Joint Declaration issued by the secular non-Congress, non-BJP opposition parties in the light of the forthcoming 16th general elections made it unequivocally clear that they have come together responding to the overwhelming urge of our people who are desperately looking for relief from the growing economic burdens that are leading to a sharp decline in quality of life. Apart from the four Left parties, leaders of five other regional parties were present at the meeting.

THE Republic of Cuba’s government strongly condemns the ongoing attempts to carry out a coup d’état against the constitutional government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the violent incidents organised by fascist groups which have caused deaths, dozens of injuries, attacks on public institutions, the burning of vehicles and destruction – as denounced before the world by President Nicolás Maduro Moros.

THE government of Kuwait hosted the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference on Syria in the third week of January just before the warring sides in civil conflict resumed peace talks in Geneva. The conference, unlike the one in Geneva, saw the international community unite for a worthy cause. Iran was one of the 69 governments and 24 international organizations that participated in the successful conference. The conference was presided over by the UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon. India was represented by the Minister of State for External Affairs, E Ahamed.

ON February 7, 2014, the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) submitted a memorandum to Ms Mamta Sharma, chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), at New Delhi. The aim was to bring to the notice of the NCW a recent incident of gangrape at Amta in Howrah district in West Bengal. In this case, a 27 years old housewife and her mother-in-law, aged 43 years, were brutally gangraped on February 4, 2014. They were admitted in the Ulberia hospital with severe injuries.

The conference was held at Melaghar in Sonamura subdivision under Sepahijala district on February 9-11, 2014. The venue was named after renowned social worker and martyr Dabholkar of Maharashtra and the conference dais after legendary singer Manna Dey who recently expired.