The Supreme Court in a recent judgement has held that a woman employee of Central Govt. can take uninterrupted leave for two years for child care, which also includes needs like examination and sickness.
The judgement was delivered by a Bench of Justices S.J.Mukhopadhyaya and V.Gopala Gowda setting aside an order of the Calcutta High Court which held that CCS(Leave) Rules do not permit uninterrupted Child Care Leavr for 730 days (2 years).
This judgement will benefit many women employees.

The death of Subhas Chandra Bose, the revolutionary freedom fighter, Supreme Commander of Indian National Army, and former President of the Indian National Congress still continues to be  mystery.
He is stated to have died in a plane crash on 18 August 1945 at Taihoku, Formosa (now Taiwan) along with some other passengers. The Japenese reported his death on 23rd August. According to them, his ashes are kept in a golden pagoda. A statue of Bose is also erectrd in the Renkoji Temple Tokyo where the ashes are kept.
But many people do not believe this. They maintained for a  long time that Bose is alive and is in India. But no proof could be found. Indian Govt. appointed three committees, one after another, but the mystery remains in the minds of people. It still remains a very sensitive issue.
Whether alive or dead, Subhas Chandra Bose was a fiery patriotic who was ready to use any means for the freedom of the country.

The NDA government at the centre has hardly completed three months, but is already on an aggressive mood to curtail and restrict the rights of the workers to suit to the requirements of the corporates and employers.
The Factories (Amendment) Bill 2014 and The Apprentices (Amendment) Bill 2014 have aleady been moved in Lok Sabha in the last session which make onslaught on the existing rights of the workers. The govt. has also brought back The Labour Laws (Exemption from  Furnishing Returns Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2011 which the UPA government had moved earlier.
The BJP government in Rajasthan has already passed  anti-worker amendments to three existing laws viz. Industrial Disputes Act, Factories Act and Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition Act).
These amendments not only takes away the existing rights of workers to organise but also allow the employers out of many of their responsibilities. About 70 % of workers will become out of the  provisions of the labour laws, creating a ‘hire and fire’ situation putting the workers at the mercy of the employers. This is being done to maximise the profits of the corporates and big business who have liberally donated to the election funds of the ruling class parties.
The united movement of the working class, under the Central Trade Unions, has already started preparations for mighty and sustained struggles against this onslaught. A National Protest Convention is scheduled to be held at Mavlenkar Hall Annexe on 15 August 2014,which is expected to chart out programmes of action and effective campaign.

The low level to which the UPA government had gone down, when in power, is being revealed almost everyday, after it has been defeated in the polls and lost power.
The latest in the case is the revealation by the former CAG Vinod Rai that politicians of UPA tried to influence him to leave out names of their leaders in the Coal Gate and Common Wealth Games scams.
A very sad picture of UPA and Congress indeed! How many more such secrets yet to come out? Has the Congress Party got any chance to come out of the sleaze of corruption in which it has fallen?

It will be 16 years on 12 September 2014 since 5 young Cubans have been put in prison by US on trumped up charges. Two comrades out of the 5 have already returned to Cuba after the period of sentences is over. But the 3 others  are still in jail. The injustice is continuing despite demands from countries all over the world.
The Cuban Trade Union (CTC) has appealed all trade unions to extend solidarity and support to their just demand for release of the 3 remaining young Cubans who are incarcerated in the US prison with out any justification.

We extend our full support and demand the US to release the Cubans from prisons immediately.

The govt. Is proposing to spend about Rs.69,500 crores for telecom, IT and Infrastructure by 5 years up to 2019. This is part of its ‘Digital India Programme’.
The expenditure for Broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh villages will be Rs.32,000 crore, for mobile connectivity, Rs. 16,000 crore, for infrastructure, Rs.15,686 crore, for rolling out common service centres Rs.4,750 crore, for training purposes Rs.200 crore, for wifi Rs.790 crore and Rs.98 crore for secure email.
These proposals are reported to have been approved by Cabinet.

Well known progressive writer and Jnanapitam Award winner U R Anantamurthy passed away today, 22 August 2014, after a brief illness. He was 82.
A great thinker and celebrated author has left us.
We pay our respectful homage.

Madras, now called Chennai, completes 375 years today, 22 August 2014. The city has its start when the the place was given as grant to East  India Company by Nayak of Wandiwash, part of the Vijayanagara Empire on 22 August 1639.
The history of Madras is full of historical incidents like wars, treaties, victory and defeat. It was the centre of Independence struggle, formation of trade unions and progressive forces as also the revival of the Dravidian Culture and Dravidian parties. Madras was the capital of Madras Province, which included the present states of T.Nadu, A.P., Karnataka and Kerala, till the state reorganisation was effected.
While the city celebrates completion of its 375 years of existence, we also share the same.
Our Best Wishes to the citizens of Chennai for further progress and achievements. (Courtesy: Front Line)

Reports from many centres in the country show that heavy rains are pouring and landslides and floods continue.
But in Delhi, situation is entirely different. Severe heat continues and people are sweating and swearing. Despite July and August are almost over, except one or two light rains, there has not been the usual amount of rains.

K.V.Choudhary, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has disclosed today that out of search and surveys, it has been found that the undisclosed income comes to Rs.90,000 crores in 2013-14. The real undisclosed will be manyfold.
There are about 3.5 crore taxpayers in the country  out of which a good portion are employees whose income tax is deducted at the source
itself. It is the big business, corporates etc. who avoid paying tax by adopting dubious means.
This year 2014-2015, the target is to collect Rs. 7.36 lakh crore, out of which Rs. 1.51 lakh is already collected.