A B Bardhan: Champion of Left Unity

COMRADE A B Bardhan belonged to that generation of Communist leaders who came into the Communist party during the last decade of the struggle for independence. Bardhan joined the party in 1940 at the age of 15. The student movement during the anti-imperialist struggle and the post-war upsurge of mass struggles in the country shaped the political outlook of the young Bardhan. Like many young Communists in Bombay province at that time, he became an organiser of the working class after his militant role in the student movement.

Build A Stronger CPI(M)

THE CPI(M)’s Plenum on Organisation, as mandated by the 21st Congress, convened and completed its work “by the end of 2015”. It is a creditable achievement that the CPI(M) could successfully implement this mandate within a short period of eight months. Party Central Committee had decided on a fairly comprehensive and elaborate procedure and time table for the conduct of the Plenum. A detailed questionnaire was prepared by the Party centre to gather extensive information from the state committees regarding the current state of affairs of the Party organisation and the details of its funct

Argentina: Bad News for the Left

THE surprise victory of Mauricio Macri, a multimillionaire businessman in the presidential elections in Argentina on November 22, marks a comeback for the Right in the country's politics after a long gap. Macri won narrowly, getting just 51 percent of the votes polled. He will be taking over a highly polarised nation. All the same, the result is being viewed as not only a setback for Argentinians but also for the Left in the entire region. It is for the first time in 15 years that an incumbent Left wing government holding office has been defeated.

Women’s Group Urge President to Return Juvenile Justice Bill

THE Rajya Sabha has passed the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill on December 24 in the name of safety of women in India while in fact this law if passed, will put safety of women in jeopardy as never before. We appeal to you to not sign this Bill and send it back to both houses of parliament for the reasons given below: CHILDREN SENT TO PRISONS WILL COME OUT AS HARDENED CRIMINALS The Bill provides for dealing with 16-18 years old children as adults to be subjected to adult punishment.

India-Africa Summit: Scramble for Africa

THE three day India-Africa summit (IAFS) held in New Delhi from October 27-29, according to Indian officials, was the most important event held in the capital since the 1983 NAM summit. The NDA government had been preparing for more than a year to make the IAFS a grandiose event. Previous India-Africa summit organised when the UPA was in power was in contrast, a modest affair with only a small group of African leaders being invited. The first IAFS was held in 2008 in New Delhi and the second time in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa in 2011.

Paris Climate Summit: How Long Will the Euphoria Last?

IT seemed that Paris would bring nations together to lay their commitment to climate change and reducing the carbon emission to ensure that there is a reduction of global greenhouse gases (GHG) to levels keeping average surface temperature rise to “well below 2 degrees Celsius” above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Finally the agreement was for 1.5 degrees Celsius. But is that true? Is this going to happen?

KARNATAKA: Janashakthi Utsav Held in Bengaluru

A SEMINAR on the subject ‘Erosion of Rights of Linguistic States’ was held in Bengaluru on December 13. The Janashakthi, organ of the CPI(M) state committee, organised the seminar as part of ‘Janashakthi Utsav 2015’ where a special issue of the weekly, Rajyotsava, was also released. The website of the journal was also inaugurated. Theme of the special issue was ‘Karnataka 60: Dreams & Reality’. The seminar assumed significance in the background of the 60th anniversary of formation of states on linguistic basis.

Chennai Flood Exposes Urban Development in Era of Globalisation

The Adyar river, which intersects the city in a serpentine path before terminating at Adyar estuary in the Bay of Bengal, had a peak flow capacity of about 50,000 cubic feet per second (cusec) nearly 50 years ago. But due to encroachment and dumping of waste by different local bodies, dumping of debris by local civil contractors, the capacity has been reduced to 10,000 cusec. During this monsoon, the river was carrying about 60,000 cusec water.

Distress Sale Ends in Distress Suicide

THE only living being in the universe that can kill itself is mankind. It is not the manifestation of the instinct but a conscious destruction of the self. What kind of consciousness operates here? Does it happen at a juncture when death becomes more alluring than life? The answer shall be an emphatic ‘no’. Self-killing occurs only when man finds no other solution to the problems that make the life woeful.EPIDEMIC OF FARMER SUICIDEIn Odisha, more and more farmers are now killing themselves. It has taken the form of an epidemic.

Million-Strong Brigade Sounds Battle Cry

COURAGE, Determination, Resistance, Confidence and Life. All summed up in one word: Brigade. Brigade Parade Ground, the largest maidan in Kolkata, is witness to many historic mobilisations through decades. Some of them have become part of the memory of the people of Bengal. On December 27, it recorded a sea of humanity which was not only spectacular in size but also incomparable in mood. More than a million people converged in the rally at the call of CPI(M), braving all odds in their life and livelihood.

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