CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and former general secretary of AIDWA, Brinda Karat remarked that ‘There was a systematic tendency in academics and policy discourse to make women’s work “invisible.” This applied particularly to the work of rural women.’ She highlighted problems of “under-counting and underestimation,” and “the policy-driven refusal to recognise the problem of unemployment and underemployment of women in rural India.” She made these remarks in a key note address after releasing the book titled Women and Work in Rural India, edited by Madhura Swa

COVID-19 infections have been spreading in Tripura at an alarming scale, coupled with a total collapse of health services for both Covid and non-Covid patients. At a time many people are dying at a premature age, bike-borne BJP miscreants started another drive of terror, attacks, intimidation, arsons and destruction of properties targeting the opposition leaders, supporters and sympathisers throughout the state.

Below we publish reports on the nationwide demonstrations called by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and the All India Agricultural Workers’ Union (AIAWU), on September 5.

HOPES of cotton farmers of a bumper crop have been totally shattered within a span of just 10 days. The standing crop well at the stage of ball formation is badly ruined by white fly infestation in almost entire cotton growing areas of Haryana. Other Kharif crops like Guar (cluster bean), Moong (pulse) too have been hit. Guar is affected as an alternate host of white fly while Moong is affected by yellow mosaic virus of which white fly happens to be a carrier.

UNEMPLOYMENT has been running at staggeringly high levels in India’s urban areas for the past several months. It had averaged about 7 per cent in 2018 and risen to over 8 per cent in 2019, then zoomed up to an incredible 26 per cent during the recent lockdown. After falling to about 12 per cent in June and further to 9.2 per cent in July, in August 2020 it is estimated at nearly 10 per cent. All these figures are from CMIE’s periodic surveys, which are the only source of such high frequency data.