ON January 10, 2014, Gopi Kant Baksi, secretary of the Jharkhand state committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), sent a memorandum to the chairman of the 14th Finance Commission when he was camping in Ranchi, the state capital.

THE Sneha Domestic Workers Welfare Organisation, affiliated to AIDWA, was formed in Andhra Pradesh in the year 2001 to work on the problems facing the tens of thousands of domestic workers in the state. Around 90 per cent of the domestic workers are women, who due to rising unemployment and rising prices of essential commodities are forced to migrate from rural areas to cities like Hyderabad in search of livelihood.

THE Indian Workers’ Association Great Britain (IWA-GB) has taken serious note of the new immigration bill which proposes removal of article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights that protects an individual’s right in regard to private and family life. If this bill becomes an act, the IWA-GB fears that it will add to the current legislative discrimination, further contribute to the breaking of families and deprive children of their parents’ love.

THE Congress party’s prime ministerial material, Rahul Gandhi’s one day trip to Kerala to take part in a roadshow in connection with the Youth Congress padayatra miserably ended up in an utter chaos with gross violation of law on January 13, 2014. It has led to a public outcry demanding that legal action must be taken against the Congress leader who travelled atop a police jeep. Kodikkunnil Suresh, central minister for state for labour, was injured and hospitalised in the melee that took place during the ridiculous roadshow at Noornad in Alappuzha district.

ONE stage, two mikes, three instruments, four voices and thousands of the audience --- this was the scene on the Beach Road near Gandhi statue in Pondicherry on January 1, 2014. The members of the troupe were filled with energy during the whole day of the programme. The songs which they sang were thought provoking and graphically described the social evils such as poverty, untouchability and inequality etc. The programme lasted for 12 hours; it continued from 9 a m to 9 p m. This was the fourth successive and successful, 12 hour programme by the team.