THE CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee has, in a statement issued on January 2, called upon all democratic and secular minded people in the state to extend their full support to the joint Maharashtra  bandh call on January 3, the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule. The bandh has been called by various Ambedkarite and Left groups to denounce the January 1 attacks by casteist and communal forces on lakhs of dalits who had gathered at Bhima Koregaon in Pune district to pay homage to martyrs on the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in which the hated casteist Peshwa rule was def

THE president of India gave a sympathetic hearing to a delegation led by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member  Brinda Karat and Jharkhand Adivasi Adhikar Manch secretary Praful Linda who submitted a memorandum to him on December 22. The delegation which comprised adivasi leaders of the Chotanagpur area of Jharkhand were from three project affected areas in which more than three lakh people, a large number of them adivasis will be evicted. They were Mohan Oraon, Dr Ashok, Anita Tirkey, Deepika Bara, Aloys Minz, Surendra Oraon, Mukesh Oraon and Fildri Toppo.

THE Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch, in a statement issued on December 20 has called upon its units to observe Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule’s birth anniversary on January 3 as Women’s Education Day.Savitribai was born on January 3, 1831 and as was the custom of that period, married to Jyotiba Phule at a young age of nine years. Jyotiba too was a child, aged only thirteen. Encouraged by Jyotiba, Savitribai went to school and got trained as a teacher.

THE struggling left and democratic masses of Tripura must not let their guard down after the formation of the Left Front government in the state for an 8TH term in the ensuing election, but they must continue their struggle to enthuse the people of the country in forming a pro-people alternative government in Delhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told a mammoth rally called by the Scheduled Caste Coordination Committee in Agartala on October 29.  Agartala had never seen such a huge and lively gathering of the Scheduled Caste community before.

THE thousands that had turned out at the Deshabandhu maidan in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar on September 17 braving an overcast sky and incessant showers, to mark the conclusion of the NPRD’s second conference, reflected the confidence that the disabled people of Tamil Nadu and the country reposed in the NPRD. In the NPRD and its affiliates they saw the embodiment of their hopes and aspirations.