MARCH 8, International Women's Day was celebrated and March 10, death anniversary of the great social reformer and pioneer of women’s education in Maharashtra, Savitribai Phule, was observed in Thane-Palghar district of Maharashtra by AIDWA with tremendous zest and enthusiasm. During the week from March 3-10, over 8,000 women in various tehsils took part in programmes around the three slogans given by the AIDWA CEC:1. Work for all with equal wages for equal work2. Rise up against all regressive, Manuwadi and fundamentalist ideologies that deny women equal rights and3.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on March 11, 2017THE BJP has won a sweeping victory in Uttar Pradesh getting over three-fourth of the seats in the assembly. This victory has been accomplished by a mix of rank communal appeal and by putting together a wide ranging caste coalition.

WHEN Narendra Modi sat in the wilderness of American political opinion, sections of the NRI community came to his defence. Graphic human rights reports on the pogrom in Gujarat had turned the US State Department against Modi. He was denied a visa to enter the United States. It did not help Modi that there was clear evidence of discrimination against Christians in Gujarat, most notably in the Dangs region where Modi’s allies used violence against Christian missionaries. This did not sit well with the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

PAKISTAN and Afghanistan have in recent weeks and months witnessed a wave of serious terrorist incidents that have cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. Alarmingly, most of the attacks have been the handiwork of the so-called Islamic State (Daesh). It no longer can be denied that the lethal terrorist group has sprung roots in the sub continent. The suicide attack on one of the most famous Sufi shrines in the region, the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, situated in Sindh province, in the third week of February is an illustration.

THE budget of 2017-18 is an expression of the commitment of the government of Kerala to take bold and imaginative decisions in the service of the people, despite resource constraints and the inequalities of centre-state financial relations.Every budget has plan and non-plan components. This year, in a budget that envisages plan plus non-plan expenditure of more than Rs 1,19,601 crores, about one-quarter comes from plan expenditure.