CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on September 29 said that the widening economic divide was deepening caste oppression and caste-based attacks against dalits and other backward classes.
Addressing a special conference against honour killings in Tamil Nadu at Cuddalore, organised by the district committee of the CPI(M), Yechury said the situation was becoming worse for socially oppressed sections like dalits and OBCs with caste atrocities and murders in the name of honour, on the rise.

ELAP 2015 (Encounter of the Progressive forces of Latin America) was organised in Quito, Ecuador from September 28-30, 2015. ELAP is organised by the Allianz de Pais, the ruling party of that country. 63 Communist, Left and progressive parties/movements participated in this conference along with our Party.The Communist Party of Cuba, Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), Communist Party of Chile, Sandinistas of Nicaragua, MAS of Bolivia, FMLN of El Salvador, PSUV of Venezuela are some of the prominent parties, which participated in the conference from within the continent.

GIVEN the dire socio-economic conditions of minorities in the country, there is urgent need to have a Sub Plan for them separately as also 12 per cent reservation in education and jobs. This was underscored by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury who addressed a state-level convention on these two issues in Hyderabad on October 5th as chief guest. He criticised the Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not implementing his poll promise of providing 12 per cent reservations to minorities if voted to power.

THE Left Front achieved a significant victory as it won Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad. Elections to the three-tier panchayat in Siliguri sub division in Darjeeling district were held on October 3. Elections in Siliguri were peaceful except for some sporadic incidents. People from the rural and semi-rural areas, and tea gardens have squarely defeated the TMC.Left Front has won six seats out of nine at the council level (as a separate hill council exists in Darjeeling hill areas, the rest of the district falls within Mahakuma Parishad).

A REPORT in The Hindu (October 6) quotes a World Bank paper to the effect that the head-count poverty ratio has declined for the world as a whole from 14.2 percent of the global population in 2011 to 12.8 percent in 2012, which presumably also implies a decline for India.