DURING the challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when people were grappling with the dual concerns of preserving their health and sustaining their livelihoods, the BJP-led Modi government at the centre, along with certain state governments, attempted to extend the working hours of employees from 8 hours to 12 hours per day. This contradicts the principles outlined in the tripartite ILO Convention on Working Hours, to which India is a signatory.

UNDER the leadership of the All India Kisan Sabha, the ongoing farmers' movement of Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh has been successful in instilling renewed faith in the united struggle of farmers and landless farm workers. What started on April 25, 2023 in Greater Noida, has now entered its 36th day with support among farmers increasing every day.

MANY economists these days talk of a process of “de-globalisation” taking place; some others talk of the neoliberal regime of yesteryears no longer existing. Of course, nothing remains the same forever: as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus had said “You cannot step into the same river twice”; some change in the neoliberal order therefore is inevitable with the passage of time.

RESPONDING to the joint parliament committee’s (JPC) invitation for suggestions and comments from the public over the proposed Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, the Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), an umbrella organisation of outfits working on land rights, said that there are serious concerns regarding the proposed amendment bill.

(On May 26, 2023, Viduthalai, the Tamil daily edited by K Veeramani, president of the Dravida Kazhagam, reproduced an interesting and revealing essay in literary journalism published in the Tamil weekly, Dravida Nadu, on August 24, 1947. The subject was the significance of the presentation of the Sengol (‘Golden Sceptre’) by emissaries of the pontiff of the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, a Saivite mutt in Tamil Nadu, to the incoming prime minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, at his home on August 14, 1947.