THOUSANDS of Anganwadi workers and helpers have been carrying out continuous struggle in Haryana since February 16, demanding regularisation of their jobs. The CITU-affiliated union of Anganwadi workers and helpers gave a call for an indefinite strike on February 19 to press the demand. All 25,000 Anganwadi centres in the state are shut from that date and more than 50,000 workers and helpers are on strike.
B V Raghavulu addressing the Left Parties and mass organisations dharna at the Parliament Street in New Delhi demanding Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.Left Parties held a two-day on March 6-7. They demanded that the union government grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh and fulfill the promises made in the AP Re-organisation Act. Later, when the protestors tried to conduct a rally to the ministry of home affairs, police arrested them. They were released later.
THE Tripura assembly election has delivered an unexpected verdict. The BJP-IPFT alliance has won a two-third majority of the seats polling 50.5 per cent (BJP- 43 per cent and IPFT 7.5 per cent).The Left Front which had been in office for the past 25 years and had won five successive elections since 1993 got only 16 seats though it polled 45 per cent of the vote.How did such a dramatic change take place? The major political feature has been the shift in the alignments in the state.
THE people charmed by Manu are concerned about miracles but are not bothered by the sufferings of people. Rulers who talk about yagnas, pushkaras and holy places are not worried about the people who toil day and night to fill their stomachs. They will not talk about caste discrimination, caste domination or equity and justice. Those who have been enjoying reservation on property for generations together, will naturally be influenced by Manuvad and not by humanitarian concerns.
A NATIONAL Convention on Motor Vehicles Act Amendment Bill was held on February 15 at Mavlankar Hall in New Delhi. It was organised by the Co-ordination Committee of Road Transport Workers Organisations and other stakeholders. The organisations associated to the AITUC, CITU, INTUC, HMS, LPF, UTUC and AICCTU have jointly organised the convention.K Hari Prasad, Member of Parliament and member of the Select Committee on MV Act Amendment Bill addressed the convention as the chief guest.
THE fighting peasantry of Rajasthan under the banner of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) last week emerged victorious after yet another battle, this time against the dastardly repression of the BJP state government.
THE healthcare sector has been consistently grabbing headlines in recent weeks. First came the reports of how two prominent private hospitals in Delhi – Max and Fortis – fleeced patients in blatant disregard of all ethical norms. Bills were inflated with impunity and relatives were harassed even after the patient was dead. Then came private hospitals.
THE rampant gun culture and shooting of innocents has claimed the lives of 17 young school students and their teacher in Parkland, Florida, US on February 14. This is one of the deadliest high school massacres in the history of the US. Since 2012, there have been more than 1,600 mass shootings, killing more than 1,800 people and wounding more than 6,400. In fact, four of the five deadliest gun rampages were in the past year and a half, after Donald Trump assumed presidency.
THE Kerala state conference of CPI(M), a prelude to the 22nd Party Congress, has culminated after scripting a new history of unity and a great advancement for the mass movement. Thrissur, the city of Pooram, has witnessed people turning up in lakhs for the public rally on February 25, the culminating day of the conference.In Kerala, the right-wing forces are trying to impose their agenda on the society and their primary goal is to destroy the Left movement.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the union budget 2018-19 in Lok Sabha on February 1 as a budget for ‘generation of employment, health protection of country’s 50 crore vulnerable people and huge relief to farmers’. The opposition dubbed it as an election ‘jumla’.BUDGET OF NEOLIBERAL REFORMSNo doubt, the finance minister’s budget speech was ordained for the next Lok Sabha elections, by carefully choosing words for election propaganda.