IT has been one of the biggest crises to hit the region since the exodus of Vietnamese boat people in the 1970's. The sight of helpless Rohingya refugees packed in rickety boats floating on the high seas with nowhere to go has finally grabbed the attention of the international community. In the first fortnight of May, hundreds of Rohingya refugees were found abandoned in the waters off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Thousands more remain unaccounted for.

WE are discussing about the anti-labour blueprint drawn in the Report of the Director General of ILO presented to the 104th session of the ILC of ILO held in Geneva from May 31 to June 13, 2015. In the first installment of our discussion, we have already dealt with that part of the Report which has enumerated the structure, contents and method of preparation of the centenary ILC, due in 2019 and pointed out the deliberate and motivated departure from the time-tested standing system and tripartite principles.

LAST week, Sakshi Maharaj, a BJP MP, was once again in the news for calling all those who attended Yakub Memon’s funeral as anti-national. Just before that the minister for parliamentary affairs, Venkaiah Naidu stated that anyone questioning the hanging of Yakub Memon was “doing disservice to the nation”. A few days later, three news channels were served with notices to explain why they had questioned the president and the decision of the Supreme Court on the hanging of an “anti-national terrorist”.

THE Left movement in Tripura reached a new mile stone on 19th August 19 as more than 2.25 lakh people formed human chains at 96 centres across the state stretching to around 300 kilometres in all. The impressive show of strength marked the culmination of the August movement at the call of CPI(M) Tripura state committee and it was unprecedented in the annals of mass mobilisation in the state.The human chains across the state saw huge participation of masses from all sections of people.

THE CAG Draft Report on the three private power distribution companies in Delhi, shows that the people of Delhi have been “overcharged” by a whopping Rs 8,000 crore.  The three companies – BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) controlled by Anil Ambani's Reliance group, and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) – committed deliberate fraud by inflating their power purchase costs, suppressing actual revenues, and through sweet heart deals with their group companies, all of which led to higher electricity bills for the consumers. In 2010, the then head of Delhi E