THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions, in a statement issued on November 28, has condemned the desperate bid of the government of India to privatise Air India, piece by piece, in favour of the private corporate –  foreign and domestic.As reported in the press, the government has decided to go for strategic sale of 100 per cent stake in Air India’s ground handling subsidiary, Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL).

ON November 20, the central trade unions – INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC – have written to Santosh Gangwar, minister of labour and employment regarding the tripartite meeting on Labour Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions 2018.

On November 14, 2018, the AIKS Nashik district council led a massive 25,000-strong district-wide peasant rally to the Nashik district collectorate to demand urgent measures for drought relief and the implementation of the written assurances given by the chief minister after the AIKS-led Kisan Long March eight months ago. The rally comprised peasants in large numbers from nine tehsils of Nashik district.

IN 1861 Marx went to Berlin to establish contacts with German workers’ organisations and explore the possibility of starting a workers’ newspaper as a successor to the two Rhenish papers. A proposal to this effect was made to him by Ferdinand Lassalle, a German lawyer, writer and leader of the workers’ movement.           To Marx’s great regret the plan did not materialise because of the attitude and personality of Lassalle himself.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on November 29DR Amit Sengupta, a leading figure in the people’s science and public health movements, died in tragic circumstances in Goa on November 28.  Amit Sengupta was the former general secretary of the All India People’s Science Network and convenor of the Jan Swastya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement).Amit Sengupta joined the Party in 1979 as a student activist. He played a key role in formulating the Party’s policies on the popular science campaign and on public health.