THE National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) addressed a letter to the secretary, department of empowerment of persons with disabled, on June 19, bringing to his notice the reported discrimination faced by disabled UPSC aspirants at an examination centre in Madurai. The letter referred to a clipping from the June 17, 2024 Madurai edition of The Hindu.
THE year 2023 has officially been declared the hottest year ever since global temperature records were kept in 1850, breaking the previous highest set in 2016. This was not a flash in the pan. Ten of the hottest years ever have been in the decade 2014-23. Average global temperature in 2023 was 1.18 deg C (degrees Celsius) higher than the 20th century average, and about 1.4 deg C higher than the late 19th century average, almost touching the dreaded 1.5 deg C limit set by the Paris Agreement and beyond which several changes in climate may become irreversible.
THIS time, the people of Haryana have foiled all the tricks of the BJP and voted to punish it in the Lok Sabha elections. In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP had won all the ten seats in the state with huge margins except one. This time it has barely won five seats.
The petition signed by concerned citizens has called for a JPC probe, legal expert consultation, and meaningful debate on the proposed reforms.CLOSE to 3,700 signatories, including Tushar Gandhi, Tanika Sarkar, Henri Tiphagne, Major Gen (retd) Sudhir Vombatkere, Teesta Setalvad, and several others have sought the urgent intervention of chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, Jayant Chaudhary, national chairman, RLD and all the INDIA Alliance partners, in staying ‘anti-democratic’ new criminal laws slated to come into effect from J
THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), in a statement issued on June 16, has strongly criticised the newly sworn-in NDA government for drastically reducing the penalty charges on defaults by employers in depositing Employees' Provident Fund (EPF), Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS), and Employees' Deposit-Linked Insurance (EDLI) contributions.
THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), in a statement issued on June 19, has called upon the working class across India to unite and prepare for a nationwide Demands Day on July 10, 2024. This decision was taken during the CITU secretariat meeting held on June 17-18, 2024, in Delhi, where the current political and economic situation post the 18th Lok Sabha elections was discussed.In the recent elections, the BJP lost its absolute majority from the 2014 and 2019 elections and now leads the NDA government with the support of allies, primarily the TDP and JD(U).
THE health department of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) issued an order dated June 6, 2024 regularising 3049 domestic breeding checkers (DBCs) vide creation of the MTS (PH) posts. This historic victory has strengthened the struggles for regularisation, that too in government departments, not only in Delhi, but across the country. The multidimensional impacts of this victory are manifested in three planks: First, it has successfully created a dent over the overwhelming neoliberal consensus manufactured by ruling class in favour of contract system of the perennial jobs.
THE All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has, in a statement issued on June 17, condemned the Delhi Lieutenant Governor's decision to sanction the prosecution of author-activist Arundhati Roy and Professor Showkat Hussain. The action is based on a 14-year-old FIR, which AIDWA describes as a vindictive and repressive attempt to silence dissenting voices.
THE fundamental issue raised by Hollywood writers when they had gone on a strike against being replaced by artificial intelligence, somehow receded to the background after the resolution of that particular conflict; but it remains a fundamental issue.
IN response to the call from the Central Committee of the CPI(M), the Tamil Nadu state committee organised protest rallies across the state on June 2. In Chennai, the protest rally was organised by three district committees, starting from Chindadripet. The rally saw the participation of hundreds of youth and Party cadres.