Opinion October 24, Forty Years Ago: Beirut Explosions
The five-party United Front urged the Centre to resume without delay tripartite talks on Punjab.
A resolution adopted at the meeting accused the government of pursuing the path of confrontation and dishonestly laying the blame for the Punjab problem on the opposition. 
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More than 145 American and French soldiers were killed in two massive explosions in Beirut. One explosion was at the headquarters compound of the American Marine Force at Beirut International Airport, which killed over 120 American servicemen and injured over 100, and the other at a building in the centre of the city occupied by French soldiers, which killed over 25 of them.
United Front-Centre
The five-party United Front urged the Centre to resume without delay tripartite talks on Punjab. At the same time, it appealed to the Akali Dal to suspend its agitation to pave the way for negotiations. A resolution adopted at the meeting accused the government of pursuing the path of confrontation and dishonestly laying the blame for the Punjab problem on the opposition.
BJP’s resolution
The national executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party in its resolution on Centre-state relations demanded reorganisation of “some unwieldy states” into smaller and more manageable units for better administration. While advocating a strong Centre as well as states, BJP opposed the proposal made by some opposition parties that the Centre’s jurisdiction should be confined to defence, external affairs, currency and communications.
Five-day week
The move for the introduction of a five-day week and round-the-clock operations in all industries has not found favour with the Union Labour Ministry. According to the ministry, these two measures will not necessarily result in increased productivity. On the other hand, a blanket decision for a five-day week may become counter-productive.
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