THE well-attended first meeting of the AIDWA central secretariat after the Bhopal all India conference held at Chennai last month gave a call for an intensive campaign against the disastrous impact of demonetisation on women. It also called for a massive observance of International Women’s Day on March 8 around these three slogans: Work for all and equal wages for equal work is our right; Rise against the Manuwadi and regressive ideology; Immediately pass the Women’s Reservation Bill.

THE election of  VK Sasikala, the aide and confidante of the late J Jayalalithaa,  as the leader of the legislative party of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in order to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu has opened a new chapter in the political game being played out in the post-Jayalalithaa period. After proposing her name for the leadership of the legislative party, O Paneerselvam, the incumbent chief minister, who had resigned, has now come out against the change.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on February 1, 2016.AT a time when the common people of India are reeling under the disastrous impacts of demonetisation, the finance minister has come out with a contractionary budget which is likely to greatly exacerbate suffering of the working people. The Economic Survey presented yesterday clearly shows a deceleration in economic growth, a sharp fall in demand for goods and services, massive job losses, decline in farm incomes, and social disruption in cash-intensive sectors.

THE Mahajana Padayatra, undertaken by the CPI(M) in Telangana with the objectives of social justice and all-round development, completed 100 days on January 24, covering 2,663 kms and touching about 1,000 villages. Led by CPI(M) state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram, the padayatra received popular support from various sections of the people and leaders of political parties and mass organisations, irrespective of parties and ideologies. It highlighted various problems of the people at the grassroots level and exposed the acts of commission and omission of the TRS government.

DURING every election in Punjab, the SAD-BJP combine and the Congress rake up the issue of river water-sharing to exploit the people’s sentiments to get votes, but neither of them made any concerted effort to resolve the row surrounding the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said.Addressing an election rally in Garhshanker in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab on January 28, he said river water is a natural resource and any decision on sharing of natural resources can be taken only by sitting together.