OVER 15 lakh construction workers participated in a two-day nationwide strike on December 2-3, 2021, at the call of the Construction Workers’ Federation of India, one of the largest federations of CITU, and made it a phenomenal success. Braving arrests, threats and intimidations, over a million construction workers rose in rage against the anti-worker and anti-people policies of the Modi regime. The two-day strike action was the largest ever in the history of the unorganised sector.

SOME of the worrying features of recent employment trends raise doubts about the discourse of post pandemic robust recovery advocated by the government and the political establishment. It is not at all surprising that the economy faced severe contraction during the pandemic and as situations ease off, the economy once again records positive growth in different sectors.

IF “loss of China” was the main worry of the American strategic community in the 1950s, then their current nightmare is the drifting of Russia towards China. Yet, the transatlantic alliance partners, led by the US, have done everything possible to push Russia away. On the other hand, Beijing has played its cards well by investing in Eurasian connectivity to woo Russia. The net result is that the Sino-Russian alliance has been gaining momentum in almost all spheres –political, economic and military. A strong bond exists between President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

 THE 22nd Odisha state conference of CPI(M) held in the Steel City of Rourkela from November 30 to December 2, 2021 (Banamali Dhupal Nagar and Marsha Samad Manch) gave the clarion call to strengthen the Party and mass organisations by developing day-to-day contact with the people of the state on the burning issues they face and to broaden the struggles. A total number of 158 delegates, 46 observers and two special invitees attended the conference.Bonai, the mining hub of Odisha, hosted the open session of the conference (Lili Mohan Gope Manch).

CONTINUING the winning spree since the elections for local bodies in December 2020 and for the assembly in April 2021, the LDF has gained victory in the by-elections for local bodies. These elections were necessitated due to various reasons like resignation of members after they were elected as members of legislative assembly and so on. These results show that the mass base of the LDF has strengthened after the assembly elections held exactly seven months back. LDF has won 17 seats out of 32 and three among these have been wrested from the UDF.