THE fifth All India Girls’ Convention of SFI was held successfully in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh from January 27-29, 2017. This convention was happening in a context which is remarkably different from the previous girls convention held in Shimla in 2013. Today we have a government in centre, which is using the State power to further its destructive agenda of Hindutva. The impact can be felt in all spheres of life.

THE Kisan Sabha in West Bengal will adopt new ways to develop militant struggles of the peasantry. The state conference of the AIKS, after intensive discussion on the rural situation in the state, has called for new methods to deal with new emerging dangers in the countryside.Addressing the public meeting and the delegate session, Surjyakanta Misra, AIKS leader and CPI(M) state secretary emphasised on local level struggles. He said, firstly we will have to build up struggle within the village to achieve local level demands.

THE well-attended first meeting of the AIDWA central secretariat after the Bhopal all India conference held at Chennai last month gave a call for an intensive campaign against the disastrous impact of demonetisation on women. It also called for a massive observance of International Women’s Day on March 8 around these three slogans: Work for all and equal wages for equal work is our right; Rise against the Manuwadi and regressive ideology; Immediately pass the Women’s Reservation Bill.

THE election of  VK Sasikala, the aide and confidante of the late J Jayalalithaa,  as the leader of the legislative party of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in order to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu has opened a new chapter in the political game being played out in the post-Jayalalithaa period. After proposing her name for the leadership of the legislative party, O Paneerselvam, the incumbent chief minister, who had resigned, has now come out against the change.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on February 1, 2016.AT a time when the common people of India are reeling under the disastrous impacts of demonetisation, the finance minister has come out with a contractionary budget which is likely to greatly exacerbate suffering of the working people. The Economic Survey presented yesterday clearly shows a deceleration in economic growth, a sharp fall in demand for goods and services, massive job losses, decline in farm incomes, and social disruption in cash-intensive sectors.