THE three labour laws passed in Parliament at the fag end of the truncated monsoon session constitute a grave assault on the working class of the country.  The Industrial Relations Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code and the Social Security Code, along with the Code on Wages adopted last year, were ostensibly meant to simplify and modernise the host of laws related to labour.  However, the entire exercise was aimed at fulfilling a vital element of the neoliberal reforms, which is to usher in a regime of hire and fire, labour flexibility and removal of all prote

EVER since the three ordinances concerning agriculture and marketing were promulgated in June, kisan organisations and farmers have been protesting against the serious assault on their rights. On the eve of the parliament session, there have been big protests in Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh.

Not heeding this opposition, the government has introduced three bills to replace these ordinances in the current monsoon session of parliament, to be adopted forthwith.

IN the space of a few days, there have been two developments concerning the pandemic and the economy which are alarming.  India became the country with the second largest number of Covid-19 cases in the world, overtaking Brazil.  Preceding this came the news that in the first quarter (April-June) GDP had contracted by 24 per cent.  This is the worst fall among 25 major economies of the world.

THE refusal by the central government to pay the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation due to the states is patently illegal and violative of the constitutional scheme regarding relations between the centre and the states. The finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced in the GST council meeting held on August 27 that the central government was unable to pay the compensation amount to the states in 2020-21 as there was a big shortfall in the compensation cess collected and the revenue accruing to the government.

THE prime minister’s speech on Independence Day was watched with anticipation to see if he would announce any new initiatives to deal with the health crisis caused by the pandemic and the related economic crisis which has resulted in large-scale loss of jobs and livelihoods.