BANK Employees Federation of India (BEFI) in its central committee meeting held at Bengaluru on March 8 had a thorough discussion on the present political scenario of the country in the wake of the 16th Lok Sabha elections. The general secretary while initiating the discussions briefed about the vulnerability of the banking industry and the dangers faced by the public sector banks due to the faulty policy of the successive governments at the centre be it the Congress government or Congress led UPA government or BJP led NDA government.

ON March 30, a delegation of the CPI(M)’s Jharkhand state committee, led by its secretary G K Baksi, met the chief election commissioner V S Sampat, at the Administrative Training Institute at Ranchi. It was part of the series of meetings scheduled by the commission to meet the representatives of different political parties independently.
The memorandum submitted by the CPI(M) delegation invited attention of the commission and asked for its intervention on the following issues.

THIS photograph was taken in Kochi on Sunday, April 6. In this image the prime minister of India is addressing a so-called "massive" UDF rally in the Rajiv Gandhi stadium at Thoppumpadi. This was the lone programme of Dr Manmohan Singh in Kerala and his first public meeting in South India. Dr Singh was here to appeal the gathering to vote for his cabinet colleague, Prof K V Thomas, the union food and civil supplies minister, who is a candidate in Eranakulam.

IN Tamilnadu, the CPI(M) and the CPI are jointly contesting 18 Lok Sabha constituencies. It means nearly 110 assembly segments. They have nearly 25,000 cadres, including 2,000 women, in the field. These are from various walks of life.
These self-effacing, selfless and dedicated cadres of the two Left parties have spread to every nook and corner of the constituencies which the Left combine is contesting in the state. They and the supporters are working tirelessly for the victory of the Left nominees.

SHOWING an alternative path of development yet again, Tripura topped in the matter of MGNREGA implementation for the fourth time in a row. This success of the Left Front government of Tripura vindicates the dire need of establishing a government which could implement alternative, pro-people policies at the centre too. In the financial year 2012-13, the state stood first among the 28 Indian states for having provided each enrolled person 87 days of work a year on an average.