AT the call of Construction Workers’ Federation of India (CWFI), around 15,000 construction industry workers from all over the country converged at the national capital and marched to the Parliament Street on December 5 and organised powerful demonstrations holding high red flags, festoons, banners and demand bearing placards.It was the culmination of a three-month-long massive signature campaign covering every nook and corner of the country under the banner ‘Petition to speaker, Lok Sabha with one crore mass signatures’.

AMIT Sengupta was one of the pioneers of the people’s health movement in the country and worldwide. His life is an example of unwavering commitment to the global struggle for health rights and equity. In addition to the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Amit was also a key figure in the All India People’s Science Network, committed to bringing science and reason into the daily lives of people.

THOUSANDS of people, in a determined show of resistance, are marching through towns and villages in West Bengal protesting against disinvestment of public sector units and demanding jobs. A ‘long march’, the mainstay in South Bengal, started from the gate of Chittaranjan Locomotive Workshop on November 30 which would traverse 283 kilometres and would culminate in a massive public rally in Kolkata on December 11. This march, at the time of the writing has already crossed 130 kilometres. In Northern Bengal, a march started from Maldaha and is progressing towards Siliguri.

MANIK Sarkar, former chief minister of Tripura wrote to the union home minister regarding the invitation extended to him to attend a proposed meeting on November 29. While thanking the minister for the invite, Sarkar showed his inability to attend the meeting owing to pre scheduled programmes.However, he placed the view points of the Party through the letter. He strongly opposed the amendments proposed by the union home ministry to the Citizenship Act.

THE major private operators, along with the State run operators in the telecom sector, are currently reeling under a three year price war with Reliance Jio. This has hit their profitability, with Jio buying its entry into the market with very low call and data charges. This has been compounded – in the case of the private operators – by not honouring the obligations of paying their license fees as a percentage of their revenue. After the Supreme Court order to pay Rs 92,000 crore as license fees, it has created a crisis for these companies.