THE CBI's inability to submit an additional (supplementary) chargesheet within the given 90-day timeframe has resulted in bail on December 13 for both Sandip Ghosh (former RG Kar Hospital principal) and Abhijit Mandal (former OC, Tala Police Station) in the RG Kar trainee physician's rape and murder case. While Sandip Ghosh remains in custody due to other pending cases, Abhijit Mandal is now free.Despite CBI's repeated accusations in court that Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mandal tampered with evidence and delayed the FIR, the agency failed to submit the additional chargesheet on time.

THE 24th State Conference of the Puducherry committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held on November 30 and December 1, 2024, at the Comrade Sitharam Yechury Memorial Hall, in Puducherry. Memorial torches in honour of Comrade Sankarayya and Comrade Sitaram Yechury were brought from Mannadipet and Bahoor, respectively, and were used to light the Martyrs' Column. The July 30 Martyrs’ Memorial Torch of Pondicherry, brought from the premises of the Mudaliyarpet textile industry, was also received and lit at the column.A rousing mass rally marked the beginning of the conference.

IN preparation for the 24th state conference of the CPI(M) scheduled for  January 29-31, 2025, the primary unit and local committee conferences have been successfully completed. Currently, the sub-divisional and district-level conferences are going on across the state.Prior to the commencement of the primary unit conferences, a set of guidelines, based on the framework prepared by the Polit Bureau and aligned with the state’s political and organisational situation, was circulated across all levels of the Party.

LIBERAL opinion holds that the international monetary and financial system is a device for promoting the interests of all participating countries by providing a convenient payments arrangement within which trade can be carried on. The reality however is altogether different: the international system is founded upon the hegemony of western imperialism, and in turn sustains this hegemony.

ON December 6, SAHMAT organised an event remembering one of the leading lights of the Left Movement in India, Comrade Sitaram Yechury. Held at Jawahar Bhawan, Delhi, the event saw intellectuals, students, Party whole-timers, peasant leaders as well as artists, coming together to pay tribute to Yechury. The event was unique in that, instead of focusing only on the more well-known facets of his life and political career, several little known and fascinating aspects of his, otherwise colourful life, were brought to light.