THE week started with uproar in both the Houses of Parliament as the opposition united against the government over the exclusion of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy from a programme attended by Prime Minister Narendra  Modi. In the Lok Sabha, the Left parties along with Congress, the NCP and the RJD, staged walkout. The Rajya Sabha was disrupted over the killing of a Dalit in Punjab and on the encroachment drive by Railways in Shakur Basti, Delhi where 500 slum-dwellings were demolished mindlessly leading to the death of a child and leaving several slum-dwellers roofless in winter.

WHILE the ‘sound bytes’ of the high decibel ‘event’ of commemorating the ‘Constitution Day’ on November 26 and the discussion on the contribution of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and the making of the Constitution in the parliament marked the formal kicking off of the winter session had hardly died down, the Supreme Court came out with a shocker. Doubtlessly, that this year marks the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar added to the solemnity of this discussion. This is notwithstanding the controversy over the appropriateness of the choice of November 26 over the customary January 26.

THE WTO has been a major weapon used by the advanced countries to roll back the structures that the third world dirigiste regimes which came into existence after decolonisation had erected for achieving a degree of self-reliance. The TRIPS agreement for instance which tightens the multinational corporations’ stranglehold over technology was pushed through the WTO.

COMRADE Noorul Huda, a veteran of many struggles who carried a rare grace combined with resoluteness and humility in all he did, passed away after a brief illness on December 17, 2015. He was aged eighty six. In his long span in the Communist Movement spread across nearly seven decades, he made an impeccable contribution to the peasant movement. He selflessly worked throughout his life for the emancipation of the oppressed people, adhering to the Marxist-Leninist worldview.

ORGANISATIONAL Plenum of CPI(M) will be held in Kolkata from December 27-31. The plenum will mainly focus on strengthening Party organisation to build up class and mass movements, making Party capable of mobilising people to resist the onslaught of communal forces. Thus, the Plenum is intrinsically linked with struggle for peoples’ interests.With this political call in the mind, preparations for holding this Plenum are in the final stages now.Incidentally, all three Plenums of CPI(M) have been organised in West Bengal.