Massive Rally of Construction Workers in Mumbai

THE Maharashtra State Construction Workers Coordination Committee organised a massive march to the office of the Labour Commissioner & Chairman of the Building & Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board in Mumbai on November 5 on a 13-point charter of demands. More than 10,000 construction workers from all districts of Maharashtra, especially Kolhapur, Solapur, Jalgaon, Pune, Nashik, Wardha, Aurangabad and Mumbai, participated in the rally.

‘Uphold the Law and Allow Free and Fearless Expression of Views’

Below we reproduce an open letter from historians and social scientists of India at academic institutions overseas to the president, the prime minister and central government, the governors and ministers of different state governments, and the chief justice and other justices of the Supreme Court and High Courts of India.

Ninety Years of RSS

DR KB Hedgewar would never have imagined in his wildest of dreams that an innocuous Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which he established on Vijaya Dashmi day of October 27, 1925 to impart physical training to Hindus so that they could become physically strong enough to defeat their enemies belonging to other ‘non-Hindu religions’ could in its 90th year become a force to be reckoned with. As much as Mohan Bhagwat becoming so powerful that he would be able to address the whole nation on the RSS day of birth on October 22, 2015.

Parliament Dharna of Rubber Growers on Dec 1

The following is the press statement released by the All India Kisan Sabha on November 10.

IN the background of continuing crash of prices of natural rubber and the failure of the Modi government to protect the farmers from market exploitation, rubber growers from major rubber growing states will organise a parliament dharna in front of parliament on December 1, 2015. AIKS general secretary Hannan Mollah will inaugurate the dharna.

Starvation Deaths Stalk Tea Gardens in West Bengal

RINA Orao is fighting a harsh battle, which she never thought she would have to in her life.A worker of Dimdima tea estate in Birpara-Madarihat block of Alipoorduar district, Rina has lost her husband Mangal four months back. Within a month her brother-in-law died. The cause of death is same: complete starvation. Lack of food and then absence of any treatment has already taken more than 15 lives in this tea estate alone in the last few months, 11 of them in September alone. This garden is owned by Duncans, one of the biggest corporates in tea industry.

Convention of Left Parties Calls for Sustained Struggle on People’s Issues

FOUR Left parties of Punjab -- CPI(M), CPI, CPM Punjab and CPI-ML (Liberation) -- organised a state-level convention at Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall in Jalandhar on November 6. More than 3,000 workers, peasants and other sections of the working people participated in the convention, presided over by Bhupinder Samber, Gurchetan Singh Basi, Harkanwal Singh and Gurnam Singh Bhikhi. The convention decided and declared that a sustained and phased mass struggle will be launched for settlement of the 15-points charter of demands.

AIKS Raises Concern over GM Mustard

THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on November 6 notes with concern the reports that an application for approval for commercialisation of GM Mustard has been moved with the apex regulatory body GEAC (Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee) in the ministry of environment, forests & climate change. AIKS demands that the government come clear on the facts of the case in a transparent manner. Bio-safety and bio-diversity should not be compromised in any manner.

‘Occupy UGC’: A Struggle To Save Research in India

ALL the Day, All the Night - Occupy UGC’ has become a popular slogan and is reverberating on university campuses across the country. This slogan emerged out of students’ anger against the decision of UGC, under the direction of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, to discontinue non-NET scholarship. Though there is an immediate economic demand of the student community which triggered this movement, its scope and scale have become much larger than the immediate concern. The struggle now is not merely against a particular decision.

AIDWA Holds State-Level Jansunwai On Implementation of Food Security Act

THE Maharashtra State government has identified 7 crore population, 4.69 crore rural population and 2.30 urban population, as the beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act. The experience of these beneficiaries who have had their ration cards stamped as ‘priority families’ leaves much to be desired.Every beneficiary is entitled to get 5 kgs of food grains at Rs 3 per kg rice and Rs 2 per kg wheat. But not a single shop in any district in Maharashtra is giving the entitled quota of food grains. The quality of food grains that are distributed is very poor.

Towards Global Corporate Rule

THE United States is putting in place a new architecture of global corporate rule through a series of investment treaties which it is negotiating with several countries at present. When all these treaties come into effect, the extent of their jurisdiction will cover as much as 80 percent of the global GDP, ie, virtually the entire world economy. These treaties include a set of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

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