A DELEGATION of the central executive committee of the Democratic Youth Federation of India visited Nepal on July 18 under the leadership of Avoy Mukherjee, general secretary and handed a cheque equaling to ten lakh of Nepali rupees to Nepal Youth Federation, earthquake relief fund collected from across India by its activists.
The delegation visited many sites of destruction and shelter camps.
THE monsoon session of Parliament began on a stormy note on July 21. The Rajya Sabha witnessed multiple adjournments with the opposition demanding resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over the Lalit Modi controversy, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh over the Vyapam scam, while the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the whole day after making obituary reference on account of a sitting member’s death.
IT is 62 years since Fidel Castro, who is now 88-year old, had burst into limelight. On July 26, 1953, he had led a band of activists into attacking the Moncada garrisons and along with it the little known Bayamo garrisons. Though the attack carried out against the Batista dictatorship was a failure and Fidel, along with others was imprisoned, it did not deter them from planning the future course of action. It is during the course of his trial that he gave the famous speech, 'History Will Absolve Me'.
THE recent years in India have witnessed a rapid capitalist transformation accompanied by a regressive feudal consciousness, emergence of identity politics and consolidation of caste panchayats in defence of status quo. The conflicts which arise due to these processes are most visible in the sphere of marriage practices and the basis on which social relationships are established.
MUNICIPAL employees in Andhra Pradesh have conducted a 16-day heroic struggle against the state government as it continued its adamant towards the genuine grievances of the lower strata of the society. It is not the case that the demands of the workers are a huge burden, as they are getting a paltry wage of Rs 8,300 at present.
AS the global financial crisis peaked in 2008, some countries, notably in Europe, introduced legislative changes that reduced the level of protection for workers. Against the backdrop of limited fiscal space and rising unemployment, these countries argued that such changes would help stimulate economic growth and job creation but a recent ILO study showed no link between less protection for workers and stronger growth.
DID IT WORK?
THE 46th Indian Labour Conference (ILC) was held in the national capital’s Vigyan Bhawan on 20TH and 21ST July. Indian Labour Conference is supposed to be the highest tripartite body as far as the issues of labour are concerned. All the three stakeholders – employee, employer and the government – participate, discuss and try to reach conclusions on important issues, decided in advance.
A NATIONAL Convention against centralisation, commercialisation and communalisation was held on July 28, in New Delhi. Five student organisations namely All India Democratic Students' Organisation, All India Students Bloc, All India Students’ Federation, Progressive Democratic Students Union and Students’ Federation of India were part of the convention.
AROUND 150 activists from various organisations assembled outside Dadar Railway Station in central Mumbai on July 16 evening to protest against the CBI hounding of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand. The DYFI, SFI and AIDWA took the initiative for organising the protest. CPI(M) Central Committee members Mahendra Singh and Sudha Sundararaman, noted film-maker Anand Patwardhan and many well-known intellectuals and artists joined the protest. Students of FTII and TISS also joined it.
ON the 40th anniversary of emergency, the veteran BJP leader LK Advani remarked that though the political leadership of the country is mature, he was not confident that the country would not face an emergency like situation again. He further added that the forces who could crush democracy had become stronger. This comment has sparked off a debate on the nature of the current NDA-2 regime. In fact the events of the last few months have made it amply clear that this regime is unwilling to tolerate any criticism and is indeed hounding those who dare to oppose it.