IT is a hundred and four years since when the International Women’s Day is being observed all over the world. The day, which used to be the day of working women, has now become International Women’s Day, focussing on the demands of women as a whole.

It is also to be noted that, as about other occasions nowadays, this day of struggle is being commercially exploited by vested interests. At the same time, this is also utilised to divert attention from the realities of class exploitation and oppression being perpetrated against women.

RURAL credit cooperatives were born more than a hundred years ago and have been decisive in providing agricultural credit, especially to small and marginal farmers and to agricultural workers. As on March 31, 2013, the short term credit cooperative structure (STCCS) comprised 92,432 primary agricultural credit cooperative societies (PACS), 370 district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) and 31 state cooperative banks (StCBs).

TEN lakhs employees and officers of commercial banks - both public sector banks and private sector banks - and one lakh employees and officers of regional rural banks were on 48 hours strike from 6 am on February 10, 2014 to 6 am on February 12, 2014 demanding immediate and fair wage revision and opposing the so-called reforms of the banking industry. The strike call was given by UFBU (United Forum of Bank Unions) an umbrella organisation consisting of five unions of employees and four unions of officers.

MEETING at Delhi on January 31 and February 1, the national Secretariat of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) called upon all its affiliates to conduct countrywide campaigns and agitations on two important issues confronting a large number of workers in the country.