IT took more than a month for the international community to wake up to the plight of the more than 200 girls kidnapped by the Nigerian Islamist group, Boko Haram. Pictures of the American First Lady, Michelle Obama and leading show business personalities with posters demanding freedom for the girls has finally galvanised public opinion world wide. The “Bring Back our Girls” campaign had originated in Nigeria soon after the incident happened. The Nigerian army has so far failed miserably either to rescue the girls or prevent more Boko Haram atrocities in the north east of the country.

THE first set of reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in 2014 have exposed the state and local government’s negligence towards the urban poor in the National Capital Region. Though the corporate media has largely highlighted the failures of the previous state government, it must be noted that the BJP run municipal corporations have also been indicted by the CAG.

THE entire life of Comrade HareKrishna Konar was dedicated to the anti-imperialist battle and to bring changes in the existing tyranny-driven society. Throughout his entire life, he worked for the application of Marxist-Leninist ideology. He also became a pioneering figure in movements of peasants and agricultural workers to dismantle the stranglehold of feudalism on them.Comrade HareKrishna Konar was born on August 5, 1915 at Memari of Bardhaman district. He breathed his last on July 23, 1974 at the age of 59.

THE eighth all India conference of the All India Agricultural Workers Union was held at Warangal between July 30 and August 2. In many ways it was a historic event, being the first all India conference of any organisation to be held in the newly found state of Telangana. The process of organising it was also important as it was jointly hosted by the Andhra and Telangana committees of AIAWU with eminent personalities like the retired chief secretary of Andhra, K Madhavrao, retired IAS officer K R Venugopal, former Planning Commission member Ch.

FOR more than 10 days a serious battle is being waged against the ugly face of communal elements in the state of Karnataka. It started on social networking site Facebook and has now spilled over to the real world in the form of complaint, arrest, and street protests in more than 12 districts of the state.