THE draft Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2014 has been formulated and put in the public domain without assessing the ground realities prevailing in the country. It is claimed that the vision of the Bill is to provide a framework for “safer, faster, and cost effective movements of passengers and freight in the country”. Statements from the ministry also suggest that the Bill incorporates the best evidence-based international safety policies.

THE School Teachers' Federation of India (STFI) organised a national education convention on November 13 in New Delhi's Constitution Club. The slogans were 'Strengthen and Implement the RTE Act, and Save and Uphold the Public Education'. CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury inaugurated the convention and Abhijit Mukherjee, the president of STFI, presided over it. Professor Anil Sadgopal, presidium member of all-India forum for right to education, and Professor Santa Sinha, former chairperson of NCPCR, delivered special address at the convention.

SIXTEEN Left parties in West Bengal called upon the people to steadfastly defend secular ideas and fight against attempted communal polarisation in the state. In a first of its kind, these parties assembled in a convention against communalism in Kolkata on November 13 and decided to organise rallies, public meetings throughout the state. On December 6, apart from programmes in districts, a massive joint rally will be held in Kolkata against communal forces. The Left parties have called upon all democratic and secular people to participate in the rally.

The following is the press statement issued by the Delhi Union of Journalists on November 19, 2014
THE Delhi Union of Journalists welcomes the judgement of the Delhi High Court reinstating the 272 workers of the Hindustan Times.
The DUJ congratulates the 272 brave workers of the Hindustan Times Ltd for their historic victory against the management. Justice Suresh Kait has termed their retrenchment arbitrary, upheld the earlier judgement of the Industrial Tribunal and granted them reinstatement in service with back wages for the past nine years.

THE shocking incident in Chhattisgarh, where thirteen women died and many more fell severely ill after undergoing an operation for female sterilisation (tubectomy), shows a mirror to all that is wrong with the public health system in India. The episode is also a clear indictment of the entire population control agenda of the Indian government, which has, for decades, been characterised by targeting and coercion of poor women and gross rights violations.

PROMOTION OF FEMALE
STERILISATION