Himachal DYFI Holds Ninth Conference

THE ninth state conference of the Himachal Pradesh unit of DYFI, held on 21st and 22nd December 2013 at Nahan, was attended by 66 delegates and observers, including 10 young women, representing a membership of 19,560.

Comrade Mrinal Das

COMRADE Mrinal Das, a member of the CITU working committee and secretary of the West Bengal state committee of CITU, breathed his last on January 4, 2014, owing to a sudden and massive heart attack. He was 66.

AIDWA Observes Savitribai Phule Birth Anniversary

MORE than 5,500 adivasi women from around 100 villages of the Talasari, Dahanu, Palghar, Vikramgad, Jawhar, Wada and Shahapur tehsils of Thane district gathered at the Comrade Godavari Shamrao Parulekar Bhavan at Talasari on January 3, 2014, to observe the birth anniversary of legendary social reformer Savitribai Phule who was born that day in 1831.

Police Attack Students; Hurl Grenades on Campus

ON January 9, 2014, students in Thiruvananthapuram were brutally attacked by the police when they staged a protest against the UDF government’s move to commercialise education by granting autonomous powers to several educational institutions. Police lathicharged the students and used water cannons on them. They hurled grenades on University College campus, one of the premier educational institutions in the state, resulting in injuries to some student activists.

Safdar’s Red-hot Life

THE site of Safdar Hashmi’s killing is Jhandapur, a small settlement in the heart of the sprawling Site IV Industrial Area in Sahibabad on the outskirts of Delhi. Over the past decade or so, however, several factories and industrial units in the area have closed down, giving way to malls, cineplexes, hotels, office complexes, luxury car showrooms, educational institutions, and so on. The nearby interstate bus terminal, a new railway station and the Delhi metro have all contributed to this process and accelerated it.

New Disability Rights Bill Demanded

THE abrupt end of the winter session of parliament, two days ahead of the schedule, came as a big disappointment to the millions of disabled persons in the country. For the umpteenth time, the UPA’s government’s promise of tabling the Disability Rights Bill remained unfulfilled. This, despite the fact that the cabinet had cleared it, on December 12, 2013, after an inordinate and inexplicable delay. Opinion was divided over not just the intent and will of the government but also on whether in the given circumstances the bill could be tabled and passed.

WESTERN GHATS:On Gadgil-Kasturirangan Reports

THE consciousness that preservation of nature and environment is essential for the existence of human life is getting strengthened day by day the world over. However, the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), popularly known as the Madhav Gadgil report, and that of the High Level Working Group (HLWG), known as Kasturirangan report, have evoked opposition from all sections of the people.

Left Agitation Against Price Rise, Jan 15-31

Leaders of the Left parties, viz the CPI(M), CPI, AIFB and RSP, met in New Delhi on January 7, 2014, and issued the following statement.

THE Left parties express serious concern over the crushing burden of price rise which is affecting all sections of the people. There is no respite in the upwards spiral of prices of food items and essential commodities, with food inflation reaching a record high of 20 per cent.

The UPA government is adding fuel to the fire by continuously increasing the prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and CNG.

Stop Private Loot of Public Resources

READERS will recall that during the Rajya Sabha discussions when it finally adopted the Lokpal legislation, the CPI(M) had moved a concrete amendment to bring into the ambit of the Lokpal investigation those private companies, particularly in public-private-partnership (PPP) projects, that use public resources or have a financial arrangement with the government. Though there were eleven Left parties’ MPs present at the time of voting, this received 19 votes, meaning that some other well-meaning MPs supported this amendment.

Delhi: Protestors Hold CM Guilty of Callousness

ON January 2, several hundred people from women’s organisations, trade union organisations and student organisations demonstrated outside the Banga Bhawan in New Delhi, in order to protest against the callous and criminal attitude of the West Bengal government towards victims of sexual assault and specifically the manner in which the case of the recent 16-year old gang-rape victim was dealt with, resulting in her tragic death due to burn injuries on December 31, 2013.

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