EXPRESSING deep concern over the shocking revelations, made by a former DG of Police, the Punjab state unit of the CPI(M) has demanded a thorough judicial probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into all aspects of the drug trade in the state and nearby areas. This, the CPI(M) said, is an urgent necessity as the drug menace is adversely and severely affecting the life of a large number of students and youth not only of Punjab but also of Haryana and Rajasthan.

THE false encounter between Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee has attracted the media attention in West Bengal. Modi in his public meeting in Srirampur sharply criticised TMC supremo inviting sharper reactions from the TMC. On the face of it, this exchange was bitter; in its essence it was politically complimentary to each other. While Modi tried to channelise strong anti- TMC current in the state away from the Left parties by strong rhetoric, Mamata Banerjee found a suitable target to deflect the attention from the exposure of scams in her regime.

THE state of Gujarat was formed in the 1960s by carving out 17 Gujarati speaking districts that were part of the erstwhile Bombay state. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India. It is one of the major industrial hubs of India. During the British Raj, the country’s first ever textile mill was established in Gujarat. Surat has been known for diamond cutting and polishing industry, the best of its kind in the world.

NETmundial – a global conference on Internet governance – was held last week in Sao Paulo (April 23-24) and ended with a non-binding outcome statement that was weak on surveillance and with some gains for big business. Big business managed to smuggle in some measures to help them on intellectual property and managed to bury net neutrality, considered a major issue for Internet users, into a future action section.

IN his column ‘No Proof Required,’ Surjit Bhalla has been regularly deriding left and secular intellectuals who oppose the fascistic corporate Hindutva ideology represented by Narendra Modi and the BJP. Last week he once again defended the indefensible by calling upon the critics of Modi to ‘give evidence’ against the Gujarat model (The Indian Express, April 26, 2014). He says that the criticism of Modi is “just name calling” and based on no hard evidence.