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.

THE world capitalist crisis which began in 2008 not only persists but is worsening. The second half of the current year was supposed to be the period when growth in the major advanced countries would gather momentum. The IMF had predicted in spring that activity would “gradually accelerate”. But the latest figures show that instead of a recovery we have an actual deceleration in growth. In the Eurozone, quarter-to-quarter growth which had been 0.3 percent in the second quarter of this year fell to 0.1 percent in the third quarter.

THE designed plot and hullabaloo created by the anti-CPI(M) conspirators stood debunked after the court rejected the argument of the CBI that the Balanandan committee recommendation was overlooked and the same was suppressed before the cabinet so as to get the approval of the council of ministers fraudulently. The Balanadan committee was appointed by the LDF government on 19th September 1996 to make a detailed study and to formulate specific recommendations on various issues vis-à-vis the steps to be taken to raise the resources for enhancing power generation.

WHEN the RSS decided to project the Gujarat chief minister as the BJP’s prime ministerial aspirant, these columns had said that this signalled that the RSS/BJP has finally abandoned its need for a mukhota to mask its real intentions behind a democratic façade. It signalled that the RSS has gone beyond the need for people like a Vajpayee. Importantly, this signalled that the RSS is back to its bases – seeking the transformation of the secular democratic Indian Republic into its version of a rabidly intolerant fascistic `Hindu Rashtra’.

AMIDST great festivity and enthusiasm that was displayed by both tribal and non-tribal people of Khowai subdivision, the Tripura Rajya Upajati Ganamukti Parishad (GMP) held its 20th central conference at Khowai on November 9-11, 2013. The conference ended with a vow to promote Tripura to a ‘self-reliant’ state in all respects.