HUNDREDS of activists of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) staged a demonstration outside Indian Oil Bhavan, Chennai last week, condemning the hike in prices of LPG.

Members of North-South Chennai district committees of AIDWA raised slogans against the union government for the steep hike in the cost of LPG cylinders. AIDWA state secretary K Radhai said people now had to pay Rs 1,284 for a non-subsidised gas cylinder. This would further add to the burden of people who are already affected by the increase in the prices of essential commodities.

EVEN as the Congress led UPA-2 government was trying to come to terms with its humiliating defeat in Delhi assembly polls at the hands of the Aam Aadmi Party, the national capital had another glimpse of the power of the common man, just a few days later. Lakhs of workers, common men and women, thronged the Parliament Street from all over the country on December 12 to warn the government and the party leading it that it would have to face the same fate in the ensuing elections to the parliament, unless concrete measures were taken on their demands.