From Our Special
Correspondent in Kolkata

POTATO prices, along with the skyrocketing prices of other vegetables, have squeezed the consumers to the last. Inept and directionless handling of the situation by the state government has not only created distress in West Bengal, it had also produced unfortunate tensions in neighbouring states.

T L Narsaiah
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat has attacked the Forest Department of Andhra Pradesh government for its illegal, anti-tribal actions in the state. She charged the Department officials of turning into land-grabbers by evicting the rightful tribal owners. She called upon the tribals to wage a united struggle to protect their rights.

ALL over the country, AIDWA units are engaged in a campaign from November 7-15, to disseminate the message of its forthcoming national conference. The tenth all India conference of the AIDWA is occurring at a particularly significant moment of time, when the challenges before the women’s movement in our country are increasing by the day. In the struggle against gender oppression, and the fight for justice, and equality, AIDWA has been playing a leading role over the past three years, and has been uniting multiple voices of protest against the escalating instances of violence against women.

AS the next round of climate negotiations opens in the Polish capital of Warsaw, there is generally no expectation of any dramatic development. This nineteenth Conference of Parties (COP 19) of the United Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) is not the deadline for any particular piece of negotiation to be finalised, finished or simply wound up. However despite the absence of such deadlines, there are a number of significant issues on the agenda.

ADVANCED capitalist country governments, no matter what their differences, generally put up a common front. They do not attack one another in public. It was surprising therefore when recently the United States attacked German economic policy in an official document and the German government replied in kind. It showed the kind of desperation to which advanced capitalist countries are getting pushed these days by the persistence of the global economic crisis.