AS we were going to the press last week, reports came in that Mohd Yusuf Tarigami, CPI(M) Central Committee member and secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir State Committee, had won the Kulgam Assembly seat for a fourth consecutive term by polling a total of 20,574 votes and defeating his nearest rival Nazir Ahmad Laway of PDP, who got 20,240 votes. In the 2008 elections, Tarigami had polled 17,175 votes and defeated Nazir Ahmad Laway by a margin of 237 votes. That means this time there is an increase in actual votes of CPI(M) by 3,399.

THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on December 31 has condemned the BJP government’s undemocratic move to amend the Land Acquisition legislation through an ordinance by subverting the parliament. The move smacks of authoritarianism and is clearly aimed to promote profiteering and real estate speculation by the corporates and land mafia. It further dilutes the existing Act which itself was flawed and loaded heavily against interests of the peasantry, land owners and dependents on land. The ordinance ignores genuine concerns of farmers and millions of persons dependent on land.

SPEAKING at a function to release the book Destruction of the Babari Masjid: A National Dishonour, eminent historian Professor Romila Thapar said that the present book, which is third in the series on the issue, has shed further light on this shameful incident and the divisive politics surrounding it. The preceding two volumes of the series have also been penned by A G Noorani.

IN July 1960, a couple of days after the unsuccessful nationwide strike of railwaymen, I was waiting for an audience with the Divisional Superintendent who had summoned me. I never imagined that the wait on that verandah would bring me in contact with a man who would become my closest comrade, companion and soul mate for over five decades. When my turn arrived, I went in and came out holding my suspension order – the consequence of participating actively in the strike.

THE BJP government has passed a bill in the Lok Sabha to reduce the combined share-holding of the central government and the sponsor banks in the Regional Rural Banks to 51% on December 22, 2014.