Comrade Achintya Bhattacharyya (1914-1993)

THE birth centenary celebrations of Comrade Achintya Bhattacharyya (AB), a Central Committee member of CPI (M) from 1964 till his death in August 1993 and secretary of Assam state committee from 1964 to 1982, came to an end on August 16. His father, Ambikacharan Bhattacharyya, belonged to Dhaka Dakshin of Sylhet district (now in Bangladesh).

BSNL Employees Protest against Deloitte’s Anti-Workers Recommendations

HUNDREDS of BSNL employees staged a demonstration in front of Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, the corporate office of the state-owned telecom firm in New Delhi, on August 21 expressing their strong protest against the report of Deloitte Consultants recommending retrenchment of 70,000 employees through VRS, recruitment of executives on contract basis, and reducing the number of Secondary Switching Areas (SSAs) from 334 to 167 among others. The private consultancy firm was appointed by BSNL last year to recommend suggestions for revival of the company.

DUJ Condoles UR Ananthamurthy

THE Delhi Union of Journalists paid glowing tributes to the memory of renowned writer and social activist UR Ananthamurthy. In a resolution adopted at a meeting of its office bearers held on August 27 the DUJ noted that the writer had made a big impact on Indian literature through his socially relevant writings.The DUJ resolution observed that Shri Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy was a towering figure, who through his literary works questioned many deeply-held beliefs.

CITU, Workers' Federation Hail SC Judgement on Coal Block Allocations

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the All India Coal Workers Federation (AICWF) have welcomed the Supreme Court judgement declaring all coal block allocations since 1993 illegal on grounds of gross lack of transparency and fairness, exercise of arbitrariness and violation of guidelines, causing huge loss to the public exchequer as well as to the consumers both in industry and the common people.The CITU has said such irregularities and corrupt practices since 1993 in coal block allocations for captive use under almost all successive central governments vindicate the inbuilt, corru

AIDWA Condemns the Outrageous Statement by BJP MP

YOGI Adityanath, a BJP MP, has made a public statement to the effect that 100 Muslim girls are to be forcibly converted to Hinduism for every Hindu girl who is forced to embrace Islam. This is yet another example of the Sangh Parivar openly communalising the issue of violence against women and inciting hatred against the minority community by making the outrageous accusation that enforced conversion of Hindu women to Islam is a serious issue in this country.

DYFI Pledges to Defend Secularism in the Country

ON the occasion of the 68th Independence Day of the country, the youth in Kerala took a pledge to uphold the unity and integrity of the country and fight against the divisive and communal forces who are aiming to destroy the secular fabric of the country.

CPI(M)’s Initiative in Palliative Care in Kannur Dist

COINCIDING with the 66th anniversary of the death of legendary Communist P Krishna Pillai, on August 19, 2014, 1789 volunteers under the banner of the Initiative for Rehabilitation and Palliative Care (IRPC) visited households in Kannur district inhabited by people requiring palliative care. It is estimated that in Kerala, around 0.3 to 0.4 percent of cancer patients require palliative care, which would mean that around 200 persons in every panchayat in the state, totaling to a whopping 1.25 lakh patients require palliative care. Seeking to intervene in the situation and provide some relief

Fifteen Left Parties Jointly Call Anti-imperialist Rally in Kolkata

FIFTEEN Left Parties of West Bengal have jointly called for a peace rally against imperialist aggression on September 1 in Kolkata. The rally will march from Ramlila Park in central Kolkata to Deshbandhu Park in the north of the city. The Left Parties have called upon all Left parties, organisations and intellectuals to join in this united protest against imperialist machinations and war in different parts of the world.The Left Front has commemorated September 1, the beginning of the Second World War through Germany’s attack on Poland, as anti-imperialism day for long.

“Depending On the State”

RAJASTHAN chief minister Vasundhara Raje is planning to reduce several government schemes of social support to the poor because she says that the “people should not become too dependent upon the State”. If she was only re-casting the schemes, or getting rid of some schemes to put in place others with similar intent but greater effectiveness, or removing support to the poor in one form to provide it in another form, then her proposals might merit scrutiny; and a discussion at an empirical level might ensue on which of the alternatives would be more effective.

U R Ananthamurthy

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on August 23.

THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) mourns the passing away of U R Ananthamurthy, renowned writer and social activist. Ananthamurthy had created a style of writing with social relevance in Kannada which had a big impact on Indian literature.

A socialist by conviction, Ananthamurthy was a firm advocate of secular values, pluralist culture and social justice. In his death, the country has lost a public intellectual of great calibre.

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