IN  the run up to the 21st Party Congress of the CPI(M) which is scheduled to be held from April 14-19 at Visakhapatnam, the Kerala state conference of the Party will be held from February 20-23 at Aleppy, the land of historic Punnapra-Vayalar struggle. Prior to the state conference, all 14 district conferences were held successfully. The reports were adopted unanimously.

CPI(M) state secretariat member, vice president of State Planning Board, a crusader in the struggle for emancipation of dalit community and a great poet Comrade Anil Sarkar breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi at 7.40 in the evening on February 9. He was 76. He had been suffering from multiple ailments and was under medical care for last several months. He is survived by only son Abhijit, daughter-in-law and a grandson. He was founder president of the Scheduled Caste Coordination Committee and Cultural Coordination Committee of the state and continued in that position till his death.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on February 6THE CPI(M) strongly deplores the police actions against the demonstration organised outside the Sacred Heart Church to protest attacks on Christian churches in Delhi.

WORKERS in Durgapur-Asansol industrial belt embarked on a 60 kilometre march to defend workers’ rights and save the entire area from the threat of deindustrialisation. The three day march, at the call of Left trade unions, started from Durgapur on February 2 and went through industrial and coal mines areas along the National Highway 2.

ANOTHER war of words has erupted between Pyongyang and Washington. This time the statements emanating from both sides are more bellicose than usual. The latest round of verbal hostilities started after the hacking attack on Sony Pictures. North Korea has been vehemently criticising the Japanese owned company which has its headquarters in the United States, for producing the movie “The Interview”. The movie, purportedly a comedy, shows the assassination of the current head of state of North Korea, Kim Jong- un.