THROUGH a statement issued from New Delhi on March 7, 2014, the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) has taken exception to a recent press report, quoting the union finance minister, P Chidambaram, as saying that the profits of banks are not for employees’ wages only.
IN the context of the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Bill being passed and given assent to by the President of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has formed two separate committees for the two states that will come into existence on 02nd June 2014. The Telangana state committee of the Party has been formed with 42 members and the Andhra Pradesh state commiittee of the Party with 44 members.
THE Haryana state unit of the CPI(M) has decided to focus its election campaign in the state on the livelihood issues of the people for which the party and the mass fronts, led by the party leaders, have been fighting tirelessly round the year. Stating this decision on March 8, CPI(M) Central Secretariat member Nilotpal Basu emphasised that the toiling people had very high stakes in the outcome of the forthcoming parliament elections. He said that the game of defections was at its worst and there was hardly anything to choose between the Congress and the BJP.
MRS Vasundhara Raje Sindhia of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took oath as the chief minister of Rajasthan on December 13, 2013, in front of the Vidhan Sabha building, after the BJP got 163 seats in the house of 200 members. This oath ceremony was also attended by BJP national president Rajnath Singh and prime minister aspirant Narendra Modi.
ON March 8, 2014, the CPI(M)’s Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan urged the state committee of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) to stand with the Left and democratic forces. He asked the RSP to suggest ways to strengthen the Left Democratic Front.
BY 02nd June 2014, there would be two states for the Telugu people. Andhra Pradesh was the first state in the country to be formed on linguistic basis after sustained struggles. Now, with the formation of separate Telangana state as the 29th state of Indian Union, a new chapter is set to begin in the the history of independent India. There is distinct possibility that new conflicts and contradictions will emerge between the two successor states and also within the states.
THE snap general elections held in Thailand in February took place without the bloodshed and violence that many had feared. On the eve of the elections, those intent on foiling the electoral process had opened fire on supporters of government who were mobilising to cast their votes. That incident has further undermined the credibility of the opposition which has managed to virtually paralysed Bangkok for the last three months.
NEARLY two lakh Anganwadi workers and helpers of Maharashtra recently went on an indefinite strike at the call of the Maharashtra Rajya Anganwadi Karmachari Kriti Samiti, of which the Anganwadi Karmachari Sanghatana, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH), is an important part.
The total strike lasted for a full one month as, starting from January 6, it went on till February 5, when 90,000 Anganwadis and 20,000 Mini Anganwadis were closed and all the six services provided stopped.
BETWEEN 1980-85 and 2005-10, per capita foodgrain production in the world as a whole declined. Since by the latter date a significant proportion of the world foodgrain output was being diverted for the production of biofuels, and since the addition to world foodgrain stocks in the latter quinquennium was no less than in the former, it follows that the per capita foodgrain absorption between these two dates must have declined even more rapidly.