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.

STATING that the frequent amendments to labour laws have so far armed the employers further, state president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and MLA, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said these amendments have deprived the working class who need co-ordinated efforts and a united resistance to safeguard their own interests across the country especially in Jammu and Kashmir.  Addressing a day long convention of the CITU held in Srinagar on August 1, Tarigami expressed serious concern over the plight of the working class who are adversely hit by the neo-liberal economic policies pursued by

THE Malekudiyas, a tribal community inhabiting the Western Ghats in Karnataka, were never so angry. Their anger this time has surpassed the anger they felt when they were prevented from collecting forest produce, when they lost land in the name of a national park, even when police branded them as Naxalites and shot their youth. Belthangady town in Dakshina Kannada district trembled as a militant and angry demonstration of the Malekudiyas in hundreds, along with democratic-minded people marched to the taluk office. The demonstration was organised by the CPI(M) and some mass organisations.

A PROTEST march was organised in Jharkhand capital Ranchi on July 25 by the AIDWA state committee against the anti-people and anti-women policies of the Modi government. Later, a delegation met the Governor and submitted a memorandum containing an 18-point charter of demands.

EDUCATION plays a very important role in development of a nation and in bringing social change. History has proved it time and again when we see the role of leaders coming from educational institutions in the freedom movement and also social reform movements. It is education which develops analytic power in an individual. For this matter, higher education has its unique place in social development. Universities and colleges are not only the centres where skilled workers, doctors, engineers, educationalists, politicians, etc.