Beed Drought: Plight of Agricultural Workers, Burdens on the Women

(Part 2)AS reported in the earlier article, if the plight of kisans in drought-hit Beed is serious, then that of agricultural workers who comprise around 35 per cent population and especially women workers is much worse and should be of grave concern.According to the District Disaster Management Plan published by the collector, the per capita income in this district is in any case very low compared to other districts in Maharashtra. Whereas the state average is Rs 95,339, in Beed it is Rs 55,139.

The Discontents of the Data Universe

IN 2011, in Davos, the World Economic Forum (WEF) hailed the birth of a new “asset class” – data. Going into raptures, they proclaimed data as the new oil. The WEF love for data has only grown with time. In 2019 it has declared that data is not merely oil, it is “super oil”: unlike the universe of oil, which is bound to the physical world and therefore finite, super oil or the data universe, is unbounded and growing exponentially. As long as machines can produce and consume ever larger amounts of data, the immaterial world of money and data can expand infinitely.

CITU Rejects Recommendations of Minimum Wage Panel

CITU general secretary Tapan Sen has written to the minister of labour and employment, rejecting the recommendations of the expert committee on minimum wage. He demanded that the minimum wage be fixed at Rs 18,000 per month and enforced across the country.In the letter to Santosh Gangware on February 19, Sen said that the report of “the so-called expert committee on determining the methodology for fixing the national minimum wage…is in our hand”.

Anganwari call for Delhi March

ON the slogans of, no to direct cash transfer and no privatisation in ICDS; implement minimum wages of Rs 18,000 per month and pension of Rs 6,000 per month for anganwadi workers and helpers; regularise them as government employees; make anganwadis full time as anganwadi cum creches, the ALL India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) union has decided to march to parliament on February 25, 2019.This march will be a culmination of consistent struggles in last five years for the rights of the children for nutrition, health and education.

Farcical Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on February 18, had pointed out that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi was only aimed at creating an illusion of a farmer-friendly government while vast majority of the peasantry, especially landless and tenant farmers were excluded from the scheme and the amount per peasant was pittance.

AIDWA State Conference Vows to Take on Communal Forces

THE 11th Maharashtra state conference of AIDWA was held at Amravati in the Vidarbha region on February 1-3, 2019. Amravati along with its surrounding districts of Vidarbha has seen the relentless tragedy of rising peasant suicides for the last two decades.The conference was attended by 264 women delegates coming from 14 districts, representing a membership of nearly one lakh.

DELHI: JMS Celebrates the Spirit of Resistance

“JANWADI Mahila Samiti has given us an identity, it has taught us how to stand and fight for our rights”“When I move around in my mohalla, people say: look here comes a leader of the Janwadi Mahila Samit.

The Aftermath of Pulwama

THE death of 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the horrific attack in Pulwama has caused sorrow and outrage among people throughout the country. Thousands of people attended the funerals of the killed jawans who were drawn from 16 states of the country.That the Jaish e-Mohammed (JeM) is responsible for this latest atrocity has focused the role of Pakistan in harbouring the JeM chief Masood Azhar and other jihadi groups. The JeM was responsible for both the Pathankot and Uri attacks in 2016.

Highly Successful Three-day Strike in BSNL

THE three-day strike of the employees and officers of BSNL, which started on February 18, 2019, is a huge success. It was called by the All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB). Almost all the telephone exchanges, administrative offices, customer service centres, etc, remained closed throughout the country, on all the three days. The government invoked the draconian ESMA to suppress the strike.

United March for Education

ON February 19, student organisations including SFI joined a protest action in the national capital that saw the participation of teachers and non-teaching staff. Thousands of students, teachers, non-teaching employees and parents from different states converged at Delhi on February 19 to march under the banner of the Joint Forum for Movement on Education (JFME) and demanded a reversal of the privatisation policies that have led to social exclusion and denial of rights.

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