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The Invisibilisation of Dalits in UP

REPORTS of attacks on minorities, especially Muslims, in Uttar Pradesh have become commonplace.  Justifications of these attacks are a regular feature on high-decibel, provocative tv ‘debates’.  Hindi newspapers are also full of these reports and justifications.  This has become a tested way of deepening religious polarization which has paid rich political dividends for the ruling party.  Attacks on dalit men, women and children occurring with greater frequency and intensity after 2017 are, however, absent from the mainstream electronic media and hard to find in the newspapers where they fi

Puducherry: Cholera Outbreak in Karaikal Signs of Malaise in the Public Health System

WITHIN three months of having been declared “best state”, (during a much publicised visit by the home minister) the union territory of Puducherry found itself battling a sudden, serious outbreak of cholera, in its small enclave of Karaikal. It took the administration almost two months to wake up to the fact that this notifiable disease,  one that has been largely eliminated, was actually spreading fast in the Karaikal region.Apparently, early reports of more than 30 people getting infected with cholera a couple of months back did not come to the attention of the administration.

Field Survey in Manufacturing Hubs Reveals Startling Precariousness of Employment

A WIDE-RANGING field study was conducted by the CITU Centre covering manufacturing hubs in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in collaboration with the CITU state committees. The survey team covered around five manufacturing industrial clusters of Bengaluru and Chennai and had interactive sessions with many groups of workers covering 23 manufacturing industries to capture a deeper understanding of the dynamics of rapidly changing employment relations as well as to mark the composition of workers recruited under different nomenclatures and categories in the same shop floor.

On the Supreme Court Comments in the Nupur Sharma Case

IT is a sign of the times, that a justice of the Supreme Court finds it necessary to defend the court against what he termed personal comments against judges attributing motives to them. This is in the context of the comments made by a two-member bench in the open court. The kind of pressure on judges if they make comments not liked by those in power has been clearly seen in the Nupur Sharma case.

Niti Aayog’s Study Paper on Gig Economy: An Attempt to Institutionalise Precarious Jobs

THE Modi government’s policy think-tank Niti Aayog has recently come up with a study paper on ‘gig economy’ defining the gig or platform economy as ‘rapidly burgeoning’ and ‘booming’. The policy paper, titled ‘India’s booming gig economy and platform economy: perspective and recommendations on future work’, published on June 27 has recommended steps to provide social security.

National Policy on Education: Declaring the End of Public Education

IN the era of the Corona crisis, finally, the 'New Education Policy 2020' was passed by the union cabinet and given the status of legislation. Legally, this is a huge policy change. Especially with all the education policies made after independence. Be it the first committee formed under the leadership of educationist Radhakrishnan or later the committee of educationists which was headed by D S Kothari - the meaning of education and its purpose was to build the nation. Unfortunately, the present education policy has been made with the vision of corporate houses and not academicians.

Tripura: Pursuing Mass Line, CPI(M)’s Unique Initiative to Rouse People

CPI(M) has 15 MLAs in Tripura. In the past four years, they have been trying their level best to raise the burning livelihood issues of common masses of the state cutting across caste, colour and creed in the highest forum of the administration, i.e., the assembly. But the number of sittings of Tripura assembly under the BJP-IPFT regime has been very limited and the number of days of every session including the annual budget session is very minimal.

Transition from Fossil Fuel to Renewables: Challenges and Tasks before Working Class

HUMANS live from nature, i.e., nature is our body, and we must maintain a continuing dialogue with it if we are not to die -- Karl Marx, 1844Many of the world’s biggest corporate houses have started concerted campaign in favour of transition from fossil-fuel to renewable sources of energy. In this holy race of saving the Earth from worsening environment situation, India’s biggest corporates are also not falling behind.

Kerala: Congress and Muslim League Blinded by the BJP- Media smokescreen

THE utter falsity of the recent “revelations of Swapna” is obvious to anyone with common sense and needs no particular defence. Despite this, I am compelled to pen this note for the following reasons. A section of the press is celebrating Swapna’s concocted story for the past one week, projecting her ‘revelations’, as gospel truths. The Congress, Muslim League and BJP have unleashed violent protests lapping up the motivated media propaganda. It is possible that some gullible people could be misled by the orchestrated campaign unless the truth is told.

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