KRISHNA Sobti (93), eminent Hindi fiction writer, passed away on January 25, at a hospital in New Delhi. She was ill for a long time but she was mentally active and creative.She authored novels, such as Zindaginama,  Dilo-Daanish, Daar se Bichhudi, Samay Sargam and famous  short stories such as ‘Mitro Marjaani,’ ‘Baadlon ke Ghere’, and a collection of memoirs in three volumes under the title, Hum Hashmat.

IT was on January 1, 1989, that the Delhi-based theatre group Jana Natya Manch (Janam) was performing its play HallaBol just outside Delhi, in Jhandapur, Site IV Industrial Area, Ghaziabad. The play was attacked by local goons with the patronage of the Congress party. In this brutal attack, in broad daylight, Safdar Hashmi, the convernor of Janam, and Ram Bahadur, a young migrant worker from Nepal, were killed.

IT is unusual for this paper to discuss a movie. But Kaala is an unusual movie. Of course all movies end with the hero defeating the villain or the ‘victory of the good over evil’. In that sense, Kaala is also a usual movie. It is the timing, the issues that are discussed and the political symbolism that layer the movie, which makes it unusual. Discussing the technical details, the treatment of the plot or the performances of the actors, is not the intent here.

ON January 1, Jana Natya Manch (JANAM) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) jointly organised a cultural programme and public meeting to commemorate the 29th Martyrdom Day of Comrade Safdar Hashmi at Dr Ambedkar Park, Jhandapur in Sahibabad Site IV.Comrade Safdar and Ram Bahadur, a worker, were killed in a fatal attack on JANAM orchestrated by Congress supported local goons in Jhandapur on Jan 1, 1989. Since then, JANAM has been going back to the same spot to observe, along with the trade union comrades and local workers, the legacy of Comrade Safdar’s creative and political work.

THE city of Bhopal witnessed a unique Festival – a festival of diversity, reason and resistance – from November 26-28. Named as Bhopal Utsav, it was organised by various progressive organisations, collectives and movements. The festival brought together activists from diverse movements, cultural activists, science activists and thousands of people from all walks of life. The festival was conceived as a response to the systematic assault on people’s lives mounted by religious sectarian forces and neoliberal economic policies.