Below we publish the letter written by the CITU to the prime minister on March 24.
THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the entire trade union movement of the country urges upon your urgent intervention in certain crucial aspects of addressing the situation in the country since coronavirus pandemic, including its prevention and containment.
THE All India Road Transport Workers’ Federation (AIRTWF), wrote to Nitin Gadkari, minister for road transport and highways, on March 21, appealing the government to supply essential commodities at free of cost to the poor and unorganised workers in the transport sector, in the background of the coronavirus disease pandemic.
Below we publish the Situation and the Peoples Health Movement response issued by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and All India People’s Science Network (AIPSN) on March 24, 2020
Below we publish the text of the letter written by the All India Kisan Sabha and All India Agricultural Workers' Union to the prime minister, on March 26, regarding the Covid-19 and lockdown, seeking mitigation of the suffering of the peasantry and toiling masses.
THE AIKS Maharashtra state council held a state level day-long dharna of hundreds of peasants outside the divisional commissionerate at Aurangabad, which is the centre of the Marathwada region, on March 13, 2020.
THE country is in a fear psychosis because of the ever increasing cases of coronavirus infected, which need to be prevented from going out of hand. All public institutions starting from Supreme Court to educational institutions are going through self imposed quarantines. Several government offices have become temporarily dysfunctional. The government itself is asking people to restrict themselves to their homes.
United Kingdom: UK unveiled a range of financial measures including £330bn in loans, £20bn in other aid, a business rates holiday, and grants for retailers and pubs. Statutory sick pay of £94.25 per week will be available from the first day of illness rather than the fourth.
MARCH 8 International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated all over the world to reiterate the struggle for equality, justice and a violence free life for women. The German revolutionary Clara Zetkin proposed in the International Socialist Women’s Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark in August 1910 that March 8 be celebrated as International Women’s Day. 100 women delegates from 17 countries agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights including suffrage for women. Women demanded that they be given the right to vote and to hold public office.
THE Covid-19 pandemic has hit the global economy badly and its impact is still unfolding. According to the WHO, as of March 18, the pandemic had spread to 164 countries and territories, with confirmed cases of over 194,000 and resulting in the death of over 7,800 people.
THE second part of the budget session of parliament started on March 3. On the first day itself, the CPI(M) and other opposition parties unitedly sought resignation of home minister Amit Shah and moved adjournment motion on the Delhi riots, which claimed over 50 lives, in both the houses. Due to uproar over the matter, proceedings were paralysed and both houses were adjourned.