THE September 2 general strike, called by 10 Central Trade Unions and independent federations on 12-point charter of demands covering the issues of the common people, workers, peasants, youths and women, received massive support from the masses in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha.Bhopal, the city of lakes, turned into a sea of red as hundreds of workers and employees came onto the streets in different parts of the city to send a strong message to the ruling dispensation. The main rally was held at Yaadgar-e-Shahjahani Park where leaders of different trade unions addressed the gathering.

NEARLY 4,000 teachers and non-teaching staff assembled at Charni Road railway station and marched towards Mantralaya in Mumbai on September 2 for defence of public-funded education from kindergarten (KG) to postgraduate (PG) level. However, Mumbai Police did not allow the marchers to proceed toward the Mantralaya.

QUICK study in various key industrial sectors of the country, with the help of CITU has starkly revealed the wretched conditions of contract labour and the increasing use of this evil system by employers – both public and private – to extract the last drop of blood and sweat from workers to maximise their profit margins. Explaining the decade old trend of declining wage share over net value added and profits, the study shows that in all the sectors, there is an increasing share of contract workers and they are paid wages that are often one third of their regular co-workers.

On September 3, on the eve of the all party parliamentary delegation leaving for the Srinagar, general secretaries of CPI(M) and CPI, Sitaram Yechury and S Sudhakar Reddy, addressed the media at Constitution Club and issued a joint statement articulating the understanding of the present Kashmir problem and steps that need to be taken for defusing the current crisis and ultimately moving towards a solution of this worsening problem.