WORKERS in Durgapur-Asansol industrial belt embarked on a 60 kilometre march to defend workers’ rights and save the entire area from the threat of deindustrialisation. The three day march, at the call of Left trade unions, started from Durgapur on February 2 and went through industrial and coal mines areas along the National Highway 2.

ANOTHER war of words has erupted between Pyongyang and Washington. This time the statements emanating from both sides are more bellicose than usual. The latest round of verbal hostilities started after the hacking attack on Sony Pictures. North Korea has been vehemently criticising the Japanese owned company which has its headquarters in the United States, for producing the movie “The Interview”. The movie, purportedly a comedy, shows the assassination of the current head of state of North Korea, Kim Jong- un.

ON October 2, 2014 the Modi government launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and dedicated it to Gandhiji. A sketch of the bust and the spectacles of Gandhiji were used by the government to appropriate the legacy of Gandhiji. This attempt to appropriate Gandhiji by the political representatives of the Sangh Parivar was exposed two months later. Sakshi Maharaj, a member of parliament from the BJP, called Nathuram Godse, the murderer of Gandhiji, a patriot and a martyr.

JANUARY 30, 2015 – the martyrdom day of Mahatma Gandhi –  was the day when the election results of the zilla parishads and tehsil panchayat samitis of the newly formed Palghar and Thane districts were declared. The polling took place two days earlier on January 28. The two new districts were belatedly formed on August 15, 2014, when the erstwhile Thane district was bifurcated.

Seven Left Parties – CPI, CPI(M), CPI(M-L) Liberation, AIFB, SUCI (C), RSP and Socialist Party (India) have issued the following statement on January 30THE forthcoming Delhi assembly elections are being held in the background of formation of the Modi led BJP central government last year. The Modi government is vehemently pushing forward the neo-liberal agenda as a kind of pay back to the corporates for their support in the elections. The union budget has provided big tax concessions to corporates and the upper middle class.