Lavpur Gang Rape: Ruling Party’s Khap Panchayat is the Culprit

THE brutal gang-rape of a tribal girl in Lavpur in Birbhum district has exposed not only the deterioration of law and order in the state, but also how the rural Bengal has come under savage rule of Trinamool Congress.

Mani’s Election Eyewash Fuels Price Hike

THE crippled Kerala government, that has been trying to balance on a razor’s edge, is doing everything to woo the voters with an incessant declaration of eyewash schemes. Tat present, all the farmers, especially in the hilly regions of the state, are vigorously agitating against the government’s timid attempt to implement the controversial Kasthurirangan committee report on Western Ghats.

Dissidents Quit BJP, Come over to CPI(M)

GIVING a heavy blow to the Sangh Parivar, more than two thousand dissident BJP workers including the former National Council member O K Vasu and former Kannur district general secretary A Ashokan have quit the BJP and came over to the CPI(M). On January 28, CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan welcomed the new entrants to the party’s fold. The public meeting held on the occasion at Panur in Kannur district on Tuesday was attended by tens of thousands of people.

Call for Cross-Party Opposition to Immigration Bill

THE Indian Workers’ Association Great Britain (IWA-GB) has detailed its opposition to sections of the new immigration bill that is currently for passage in parliament. The bill, first proposed as a draft in 2006, was considered too strict by the labour government and failed to see the light of day.

Left to Hold Vikalp Rally, Feb 23

IT is only the Left parties which have a genuine interest in fighting for the livelihood issues facing the toiling peasants and are striving hard for the right to social justice for the socially marginalised sections. So said Inderjit Singh, secretary of the CPI(M)’s Haryana state, while addressing a well attended meeting of party workers of the Ratia assembly segment in Fatehabad district of the state on January 25.

CITU Welcomes Minimum Pension Increase

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions has welcomed the reported decision of the government of India for increasing the minimum pension to Rs 1,000 per month for the pensioners under the Employees Pension Scheme and EPFO, as carried by the press.

The CITU press statement issued in this connection from New Delhi, on January 24, 2014, noted that this demand of increasing the minimum pension was one of the ten-point demands on which all the central trade unions and national federations have been conducting countrywide agitations and strikes since 2009.

Mid-Day Meal Workers Organise Militant Demonstration

THOUSANDS of mid-day meal workers coming from the districts of Saharsa, Supaul and Madhepura staged a militant demonstration in front of the Commissioner’s Office on January 24, 2014. The demonstration was held under the banner of Mid-day Meal Workers’ Union and led by its Pramandaliya Sanrakshak, Vinod Kumar. CITU state secretary, Ganesh Singh, Dr Chandrabhash, Ganesh Manav, Vyas Prasad Yadav, Manju Devi and other leaders addressed the demonstrators.

BEFI Holds 13th State Conference

THE Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) recently organised at Kolkata its two-day 13th West Bengal state conference, which got off to a flying start on Saturday, January 18, 2014, with a big colourful procession of bank employees, numbering about 2,000. The procession started from outside the Bengal Chambers of Commerce building in BBD Bag area in Kolkata and headed towards the Mahajati Sadan, the venue of the conference, thus covering a stretch of about two km through the main thoroughfares going towards the northern part of the city.

Bank Employees to Go on Two-Day Strike

REJECTING the offer of a meagre increase of 0.5 percent over the previous offer of 9.5 percent of the pay slip component during the wage revision talks, all the nine unions of employees and officers under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have decided to go on a two-day nationwide strike on February 10 and 11, 2014.

South Sudan: Descending into a Civil War

BARELY two and a half years after South Sudan joined the community of independent nations, the bloody sceptre of a civil war has once again cast its shadow. The latest cycle of violence erupted on December 15. According to reports, the trouble started when a clash took place between two sections of the presidential security guards. The fighting was said to be on ethnic lines, with the Dinka clashing against the Nuer. The Dinkas constitute around 15 per cent of the population and the Nuer around 10 per cent.

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