SENIOR trade union leader, R Sreenivas was released on August 16, after spending 16 years of jail life in Bangalore Central Prison in the ‘BPL Case’. ‘BPL Case’ continues to be an iconic case in the contemporary history of the trade union movement in the post-liberalisation period.4000 workers worked in the ten industrial units of the BPL on the outskirts of Bangalore. There was no union in the factory until 1998, when workers organised under the banner of BPL Group of Companies Karmikara Sangha, affiliated to CITU.

ON September 2, 2016, crores of workers across the country will go on strike demanding an end to the all-round attack launched by the government against their lives, livelihood and dignity. Representing the interests of the big capitalists, both domestic and foreign, the Modi government has been trying to fool the working people with false promises even as it supports and actively imposes a policy that is snatching away jobs, looting family budgets, disarming workers of their rights and opening the doors to harsher exploitation.

The central government’s decision to allow up to 74 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) as brownfield investment in the domestic pharmaceutical companies for their acquisition by the foreign firms through the automatic route has serious implications for the development of pharmaceutical industry and public health in India.

ON July 11, 2016 four young dalits were publicly flogged and paraded around in Una, Gujarat for skinning a dead cow in broad daylight. Most inhuman kind of torture has been meted to people on the pretext of cow protection and the perpetrators in their bravado have uploaded their brutal acts on social media with utmost impunity. The incident sparked widespread protests in the state against their act and transformed into a movement for dalit rights.

THE chief justice of India, T S Thakur, has recently warned that the Supreme Court may have to make a judicial intervention to get the names of High Court judges recommended by the collegium and pending with the government approved.  For months now, there has been a stalemate between the government and the higher judiciary over filling up the vacancies in the High Court.  The Supreme Court collegium had recommended 74 names for appointment as High Court judges.  These have not been cleared by the government for appointment yet.  The standoff between the Modi government and the judiciary com