On April 2, the four major student union federations jointly held a protest against the withdrawal of campus democracy in West Bengal.

Prakash Karat, General Secretary, CPI (M), in a public meeting organised by the Centre for Policy Analysis, condemns the Police Bill proposed by the J&K government as draconian and anti-democratic as it will provide the same impunity to the J&K police that the Indian Army enjoys under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

The Sangharsh Sandesh Jathas organised by the CPI(M) concluded with a big public meeting held at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on March 19.

Newsclick discusses with Shankar Raghuraman, Senior Journalist, the election results in three North-Eastern states of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya. He says the results are a bad news for the Congress Party. Its influence is gradually declining in this region which was its traditional stronghold. Tripura has elected the Left Front to power for the fifth consecutive term, largely because of the participatory politics it practised. The Naga People's Front has won the majority in Nagaland and in Meghalaya, the Congress Party got the majority.

Bamutia, Tripura.

During the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Lecture in 2011, the Swedish novelist Henning Mankell recounted an incident from Mozambique, where he lives for part of the year.

THE CPI(M) has embarked upon a massive outreach programme. Titled, Sangharsh Sandesh,

Covering more than 10,000 kilometres across the length and breadth of the country, the CPI(M) is organising four jathas (marches) from four corners of the country which are going to crisscross carrying the message of struggle for alternative policies.

Delhi.

Early this morning, on the busy bylanes of Zamrudpur (Delhi), I passed a young girl being taken to school on a cycle-rickshaw.

The two communist parties – the CPI(M) and the CPI have concluded their respective party congresses. Both the party congresses have taken quite similar positions with regard to the political line – both have called for a strong left and democratic alternative.