THE brutality and brazenness of the recent gang rape of Danish woman near New Delhi Railway Station has shocked everyone in the capital. In the light of growing incidents of sexual assault at public places and increasing feeling of insecurity amongst women, All India Democratic Women’s Association, Jana Natya Manch, Democratic Youth Federation of India, Students’ Federation of India, Jansanskriti, Democratic Teachers’ Federation, Centre of Indian Trade Unions together held a night watch protest at the site of rape incident on January 17.
THE Jammu & Kashmir People’s United Front (JKPUF), a recently formed umbrella organisation of several political groups, organised its second convention in Jammu on Sunday, January 19, 2014. The well attended convention was held at Kathua, where the front leaders addressed the workers of the area.
ON January 12, 2014, workers and helpers of the child rearing centres as well as tailoring teachers from all over Haryana staged a militant demonstration in Rohtak city and sent a memorandum to the chief minister, B S Hooda, about their grievances.
A Tongue in cheek disclaimer was printed in The Hindustan Times of January 7, 2014, under the heading ‘You Thought Kim Fed His Uncle to Dogs? Not Really, It was a Satire!’ The news item referred to the widely circulated story that the execution of Jang Thong Sack, the uncle of Kim Jong Un, was undertaken by stripping him and some of his colleagues, who were then fed to some 120 hungry hounds in horror story style in full view of Kim Jong Un and 300 other witnesses. Such an extraordinarily public event can hardly be kept secret, but it was assumed that it was.
THROUGH a statement issued on January 15, 2014, by its general secretaries Murali Manohar Prasad Singh and Chanchal Chauhan, the Janvadi Lekhak Sangh (JLS) expressed its deep sense of grief over the demise of Namdev Dhasal, renowned Marathi writer of dalit literature. He was seriously ill since September 2013, was in a Mumbai hospital for treatment and the doctors had diagnosed him as suffering from a kind of cancer. He breathed his last on Wednesday, January 15.
The following is the statement issued by Awami Muttahida Mahaz (AMM) on January 21:
EXPRESSING serious concern on the events unfolding after the seizure of a narcotics consignment at LoC, Awami Muttahida Mahaz (AMM) appealed the leadership of two countries not to squeeze the confidence building measures (CBM’s) to such a level.
THE All India Reserve Bank Employees Association (AIRBEA) held its 31st conference in Kolkata on December 6 to 8, 2013. It was almost half a century ago, in 1966, when an AIRBEA conference was last held in Kolkata. The host unit rose to the occasion magnificently and extended to the delegates and guests a warm and cordial reception and hospitality. Apart from aesthetic decorations and illumination, it organised fascinating cultural presentations which won the hearts of one and all.
AFTER more than one and a half year long much hyped investigation to trap CPI(M) leaders in the T P Chandrashekaran murder case, the UDF government has suffered an excruciating set back as the trial court exonerated 24 accused including CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretariat member P Mohanan on January 22.
SFI leader Saifuddin Mollah was brutally murdered in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas district on 19th January. Saifuddin, a post graduate student, was the president of Baruipur 2 rural local committee of SFI and was returning to his home in Sitakundu Bazar from a public meeting addressed by Suryakanta Mishra, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly. He was forcibly kidnapped by Trinamool Congress goons and taken to a secluded place. He was mercilessly beaten, the entire body showed signs of savage torture.
FINALLY, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel in Syria. The Geneva 11 peace talks are in all likelihood finally going to be held from January 22 to 25. More than 30 countries, including India, have been invited to attend the peace talks. The Syrian government and the opposition, which is under American pressure to attend, will be holding direct talks that will be chaired by the UN special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi.
