UTTAR PRADESH: First State Convention of Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch Held Successfully

THE first convention of the DSMM, UP was held in Lucknow on June 30. It was inaugurated by Santosh Balmiki, senior journalist, Hindustan Times, who spoke about his own experiences growing up in a family of manual scavengers and the grave injustice that his community is still suffering despite much legislation and many, broken, promises. He said that even today dalit children face humiliation and discrimination in schools and this prevents them from acquiring the education that they need desperately.

West Bengal Heading for Massive Struggle

CPI(M) and the Left Front will unleash a wave of struggles on the burning issues of people in the state. The preparation and campaign for mobilising people has already started. This will be coordinated with the Party Central Committee’s call for the August campaign.All the Left peasant and agricultural workers’ organisations have decided to march towards Nabanna, the state secretariat on August 10. In a first of its kind, peasants from all over the state will gather at five points surrounding Nabanna, which has been fortified with cordons of security.

Dinanagar Attack Condemned

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on July 28.

THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Dinanagar, Punjab in which seven people were killed including a senior police official. This attack by a three-member squad, reportedly, coming from across the border in Pakistan is a matter of serious concern.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Condoled

Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has issued the following statement on July 28.

THE CPI(M) expresses its deep sorrow at the passing away of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former president of India.

Dr Kalam played a pivotal role in the development of India’s nuclear technology capabilities.

BJP’S CORRUPTION: Govt Disrupting Parliament To Protect Guilty

CLEARLY, this BJP government is brazening out the turmoil in the parliament and is hoping to `ride the storm’ and escape parliamentary scrutiny over grave charges of corruption that have been raised by the united opposition. On the eve of this monsoon session of parliament, this BJP government and PM Modi, celebrating their first year in office, bombastically claimed that they have provided a corruption-free government as opposed to the scam-ridden UPA-2 government.

Implications of the Gurdaspur Attack

THE Gurdaspur attack by an extremist squad crossing over from Pakistan is a first of its kind in Punjab. The three-member group is reported to have crossed the international border a few kilometers from the site of attack in Dinanagar. Two similar attacks by Lashkar –e-taiba squads had taken place in Jammu earlier this year.

The terrorist attack killed seven people altogether, three of whom were civilians. The extremists ended up in the Dinanagar Police Station where they were finally killed by the security forces after a 15 hour gun battle.

Yakub Memon: Miscarriage of Justice

THE execution of Yakub Memon is a miscarriage of justice. There is no other way to describe the hanging of a man when there were strong mitigating circumstances to commute his sentence. Yakub Memon was certainly guilty of a crime – involvement in the conspiracy which led to the heinous bomb blasts in Mumbai which took the lives of 257 persons. But his role and the nature of the offence did not warrant capital punishment. The ends of justice would have been served if he had been awarded a life sentence, just as the ten others whose death sentences were commuted to life.

TRIPURA CM AT THE NITI AAYOG MEETING

At the second meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog held on July 15, Manik Sarkar, chief minister of Tripura made the following observations in his speech on the amendments proposed in the Second Ordinance, 2015 to The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR 2013).

46th Session of Indian Labour Conference to Government: Talking is Fine, but Start Doing

THAT was the strong message given to the government of India by the 46th session of the Indian Labour Conference (ILC), through a unanimous recommendation. The 46th session of the ILC was held in Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on July 20–21, 2015.

Modi Govt's Foreign Policy

AS the travel logs show, Narendra Modi has been spending considerable time in foreign climes. On his many visits abroad, he has steadfastly refused to take the external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj along. Important foreign policy decisions now seems to be exclusively formulated within the confines of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). This trend had started during the tenure of the previous government after it had gone on overdrive to secure the US-India nuclear deal. But in those days, the foreign office at least provided serious inputs that were acted upon.

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