A FRENCH princess sometime in the 17th or 18th century was told that the peasants were restless and complaining they had no bread. The princess was said to have uttered the legendary phrase, “well then, let them eat cake!” This phrase came to be used to highlight the disregard for the peasants, and lack of understanding of their condition, on the part of the then French aristocracy.

THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), in an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 28, condemned the action taken by the central government against 50 Revenue Service Officers for their report suggesting tax-hike on the rich. It said that the government’s action was thoroughly unjust and autocratic.

SINCE the very outset, thousands of migrant workers with the back breaking huge sacks trudging along, often with wives and children for hundreds of kilometers have been the unputdownable images that have refused to leave us. Since the abrupt announcement of the national lockdown with a notice of four hours, such images have come to haunt us. Thousands of migrant workers at the Anand Vihar bus station immediately after the announcement marked their arrival in the increasingly intense discourse on our response to Covid pandemic.

THE coronavirus global pandemic is still raging with its epicentre in the United States of America. It is during this time that President Trump and his administration have launched a frontal campaign against China, blaming it for the creation of the virus and its spread going to the extent of demanding compensation for the damage caused.

WORLD is facing an unprecedented threat in the form of a new pandemic. Covid-19 has already claimed around 0.16 million human lives in the world. The total number of reported cases around the globe is 2.3 million in 210 countries according to the WHO.