ANNOUNCING the comeback of Modi in the next general election in 2019, Nitish Kumar declaring that nobody can teach him secularism, took office of the chief ministership of Bihar sixth time in a row, ditching one ally after another.Nobody quarrels with Nitish for his song of invincibility for Modi but his bragging about secularism is nothing but shamelessness of high order.
AT the call of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), the joint platform of nine unions of workmen and officers of the banking industry, the workforce of the industry all over india, including those of the private sector banks, foreign banks and regional rural banks and cooperative banks also in some states, have gone on strike on August 22 to express their unequivocal opposition to the neo-liberal reforms of the banking sector being pursued by the central government.
AT the call of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), the joint platform of nine unions of workmen and officers of the banking industry, the workforce of the industry all over india, including those of the private sector banks, foreign banks and regional rural banks and cooperative banks also in some states, have gone on strike on August 22 to express their unequivocal opposition to the neo-liberal reforms of the banking sector being pursued by the central government.
AT a solemn and moving solidarity meeting at Junaid's home in the village of Khatawali on August 23, a CPI(M) delegation with Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, Haryana state secretary Surinder Malik and others handed over two cheques of Rs Five lakhs each to Junaid's parents, Jalaluddin and Saira on behalf of the Kerala state committee of the CPI(M). This followed the meeting of the grieving parents with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan last month when he was visiting Delhi.
OVER six thousand ASHA workers from 11 states marched from Ram Lila Maidan and collected at Jantar Mantar to submit around 50 lakh signatures on a memorandum to the central government.
THE All India Democratic Women’s Association has welcomed the majority judgement in “Shayara Bano v. Union of India and Ors” WP (C) No. 118/2016, in which the Supreme Court has held that triple talaq is arbitrary and un-constitutional. AIDWA, in a statement issued on August 22, has said that it always opposed the unilateral, arbitrary, irrevocable and instantaneous triple talaq, which has always adversely affected the lives of millions of Muslim women.
AIDWA pays its homage to one of its founders, Captain Laxmi Sehgal on July 23 to mark her death anniversary. This year, the period from July 23 to August 15 and beyond is being observed throughout the country with the poster exhibition about the life and work of prominent Left women freedom fighters and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for a free, democratic, secular and socialist India.
THE Adanis are again in the news, this time for importing transmission equipment from Japan, China and South Korea, hiking its price through an Adani intermediary in Dubai, and transferring the difference to the off-shore haven, Mauritius.
THE Modi government is getting into a deeper strategic embrace with the United States. It appears Narendra Modi will do his utmost to endear himself to the Trump establishment.On August 15, there was a telephonic conversation between Donald Trump and Narendra Modi. Trump had called Modi to congratulate him on India’s independence day but the talk outlined some of the new steps in the relations between the two countries.
THE five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has struck down instant triple talaq as illegal and violative of the rights of Muslim women. This majority verdict by 3 to 2 is a victory for Muslim women who have suffered under the arbitrary use of talaq-e-bidat which is instant talaq.Amongst the majority of three, two of the judges have argued that instant triple talaq is violative of the fundamental right to equality enshrined in Article 14 of the constitution, while the third judge has said it is illegal as it is not sanctioned by the Quran and Islamic religious practice.