TIME was when the annual budget of the central government used to be a serious affair. It reflected no doubt the government’s class bias, but how exactly this class bias was expressed through the various budgetary proposals had to be established by scrutinising budgetary figures, which did signify something. There was always of course some window-dressing, but only at the fringes; the core of the budget was a matter for serious scrutiny. Such is no longer the case under the Modi government. Little credence can now be attached even to the most significant budget proposals.

WHILE working for the implementation of the general task of building proletarian political parties on the basis of the internationalist ideas of Marxism, Marx and Engels at the same time stressed the importance of taking into account the distinctive features of the development of each country, the difficulties and obstacles that confront the working class movement in its progress.

TENS of thousands of people, in some estimates a million, thronged the Brigade Parade Ground on February 3 at the call of the Left Front, to assert alternative policies and politics. One of the largest ever mobilisations in Kolkata’s historic ground threw up a challenge to the communal and political polarisation in the state, triggering a new stage of confidence as well as struggle.

ON January 29, the AIDWA Kerala state committee had a review meeting of the organisation’s work in the broader campaign for the historic Women’s Wall on January 1 this year. Some of the experiences and the lessons have a wider significance for progressive movements that seek to challenge and change the unequal status quo.

THE working committee of the All India Fishers and Fisheries Workers’ Federation met in Hingalganj in North 24 Paraganas district of West Bengal on January 22, 2019. More than 40 working committee members and invitees from seven states including Tripura, Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka participated in the meeting. Meetings of the subcommittees on marine, inland and allied sectors, constituted by the AIFFWF working committee met prior to this meeting and discussed the issues of fishers and fisheries workers in those sectors.