THE Andhra Pradesh state committee of the CPI(M) has discussed about the electoral tactics to be adopted in the state for the 2014 Lok Sabha and assembly elections during its two-day long meeting that concluded on 02nd February in Hyderabad. It has resolved that the central committee of the Party must decide on the tactics keeping in mind the opinions expressed by the state committee.
THE central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India in a statement issued on February 1, 2013 expressed heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Nido Taniam, the 19-year old student studying at Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, who was brutally attacked by shopkeepers at Lajpat Nagar in New Delhi, before succumbing to his death on January 31. Following as it does the horrific incident of the gang-rape of a Danish woman, this incident reminds us that despite the tall promises by the incumbent government, Delhi remains to be an extremely unsafe city.
HISTORY is cruel; in its own way, it squares up the truth. Seven years back, a rural tract in West Bengal – Nandigram – shot to prominence. It resonated across the country. The cyber world took it beyond the national boundary and drew international attention. Political observers attributed electoral nemesis of the three decade electoral sway of the Left to the developments in Nandigram. Nandigram was seen as the ‘diabolical’ anti-peasant face of the Left in Bengal. And overall, it contributed to undermine the credibility of the Indian Left.
ON February 3, 2014, the CITU’s Haryana state president Surender Singh Malik, who is also a member of the Haryana State Minimum Wages Advisory Board, raised in the board’s meeting the demand that the minimum wage must be at least Rs 15,000 in Haryana. The Advisory Board’s meeting was called by the principal secretary of the Department of Labour and Employment of the state government, who is also chairman of the said board, in Chandigrah.
EVEN as the Obama administration is trying to get a recalcitrant Israeli government to give some meaningful concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the beleaguered Palestinians got a strong endorsement for their just cause from the American Studies Association (ASA). The Association, America’s oldest and largest academic association devoted to an interdisciplinary study of American culture and history, passed a resolution in the second week of December, agreeing to join a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
CHERTHALA in Alappuzha is a hamlet that once made a history because of its role in the formation of the present day Kerala. The same hamlet once again witnessed another historic event on February 1, 2014. On the day, Vayalar, where hundreds of communists made the supreme sacrifice in the struggle for independence, wholeheartedly welcomed the communist cadre on the day
AS per media reports, the union finance ministry have decided to sell the shares of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Engineers India Limited (ElL) through the block deal route.
THE CPI(M) and Left Front unleashed a massive campaign on peoples’ issues for more than a month in West Bengal. Left Front called for the campaign from 3rd January to 3rd February, which got a huge response from the people. The campaign focused on the restoration of democracy, immediate halt to atrocities against women, against price rise, fair prices for peasants, defending the rights of the workers, punishment of the chit fund fraudsters, against anarchy in educational institutions.
AMID slogans, songs and drum beats hailing the success of the second national conference of the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM), its newly re-elected chairman Bajuban Riyan called on the 345 delegates representing 14 states to take the inspiring message of the conference –intensify struggle, build unity and strengthen organisation, to every village and block where adivasis reside.
HUNDREDS of peasants from Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Karnataka took out a march and staged a militant dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on January 31, 2014, against the implementation of the Kasturirangan committee recommendations on Western Ghats. The dharna was inaugurated by Hannan Mollah, general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS). Amra Ram, president of the AIKS, presided over the meeting.