CRORES of Indian rupee notes and quasi-equivalent amounts of gold jewellery are found in the properties of former state education minister, Partha Chatterjee and his ‘khaas’ emissary Arpita Mukherjee. This year the month of July took the attention over anything in West Bengal as the ‘eyes wide shut’ of the intelligence regarding the loot of people’s assets moved to ‘do something' about it.

“THEY may take my life, but I will not go. I will not leave my father’s land. All that I have in the world is here,” declared Sohagini Saren. She was not alone. Many more villagers present in Suvarna Vanik Samaj Hall in Kolkata on Wednesday, August 3, expressed their determination to fight to the end to protect their land and livelihood, under threat because of the Deucha Pachami coal block project.

A SERIES of programmes were organised across Tripura to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence and 80 years of the Quit India Movement, at the call of the CPI(M) state committee. The DYFI also organised a host of programmes separately on the occasions. These programmes included rallies, processions, hall meetings, human chains and blood donation camps.

THE Working Committee of the All India Fishers and Fisheries Workers’ Federation (AIFFWF) met on August 19-20, 2022, at Vizhinjam in Trivandrum, Kerala. It was attended by 26 members from Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar.The meeting was presided over by Debasish Barman, president, AIFFWF. CITU President Hemalata who is also the vice president of AIFFWF, participated in the meeting.

THE Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022, introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8, 2022, is yet again another attempt to privatise electricity distribution, reduce subsidies, and leave India's poorest to the caprices of the market. Such attempts to amend the Electricity Act of 2003 were made in 2014, 2020 and again in 2021. It now has reappeared in new clothes in 2022.