THOUSANDS of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA workers) staged a sit-in dharna at Vijayawada on August 26 demanding release of their wages that are pending for the last eight months. They also opposed the grading system introduced recently by the government intending to harass them and is a threat to their job security. Police detained many ASHA workers in their respective districts from 25th itself. Family members of ASHAs also were taken into custody at some places.

THE Centre is trying to convert Kashmir into India’s Palestine by removing Article 370, splitting it into two and converting both into union territories, said Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary earlier this week.Hitting out at the Modi government for an ‘Israeli-model military occupation’ in Jammu and Kashmir, Yechury called on Indian patriots to join the battle for the soul and character of the country.Delivering a lecture organised by the AKG Padana Gaveshana Kendram and the CPI(M) Trivandrum district committee on the centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and convert the state

IT WAS a rainy afternoon.  Two student rallies withstanding heavy rain, culminated at Dumdum, the very locality where the seeds of SFI were sown,  in August  1970 through  the formation a preparatory committee.  SFI president, V P Sanu hoisted the white flag of Independence, Democracy and Socialism, marking the beginning of the golden jubilee celebrations of SFI.

On August 13, Tribal Youth Federation of Tripura organised a special convention at Agartala Town Hall with ten-point demands to the state and central government to resolve the matters of employment and jobs for youth, demands regarding education policies and livelihoods of the people.

THE 11th death anniversary of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet was observed in Chandigarh on August 1. The meeting was organised by the Punjabi daily Desh Sewak and Virsa Sambhal and Prasar Kender. Speaking on the occasion, Nilotpal Basu, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) called upon the Party workers and sympathizers to intensify the fight against communalism to protect the social fabric of the country from damage by the fundamentalist forces in the name of Hindu Rashtra and their efforts to convert India into a majoritarian  state.