AIAWU Holds Day-Night Dharnas across Bengal

ON June 1, after months of confronting an administration unwilling to negotiate, agricultural labourers, including women, from different villages sat on dharnas (sit-in protests) outside the offices of the concerned panchayats. The All India Agricultural Workers ' Union (AIAWU) organised the dharna-deputation programme in panchayats across the state on June 1, demanding resumption of 100 days work, payment of arrear wages, release of money for houses to be built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) and other related issues.

Kerala's Rubber Farmers Unite: Parliament March Planned for Sept 14

ON May 26, 2023, more than 10,000 rubber farmers from all over Kerala, led by the Kerala Karshaka Sangham (AIKS), marched to the Raj Bhawan at Thiruvananthapuram. The rubber farmers' march began from Asan Square near Kerala University and marched up to the Raj Bhawan.AIKS president Ashok Dhawale, general secretary Vijoo Krishnan, Karshaka Sangham general secretary Valsan Panoli, president M Vijayakumar, AIKS vice president SK Preeja, and others marched with the farmers. CITU, AIAWU, AIDWA, SFI, and DYFI also marched in solidarity.

Swiggy Workers on Warpath

SWIGGY, is an Indian online food ordering and delivery platform and a subsidiary of Bundl Technologies of Bengaluru. It was floated in 2014 and currently operates in more than 500 cities in India, and has around 6,000 employees. About 1,100 workers are hired as office and restaurant staff, and the rest as delivery persons.Besides food, the app provides grocery deliveries and a same-day package delivery service.

The Q4 GDP Estimates for 2022-23

Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connectionor reload the browserDisable in this text fieldRephraseRephrase current sentenceEdit in Ginger×THE estimates of India’s Gross Domestic Product for the fourth quarter of 2023 were released on May 31. These show a growth rate of 6.1 per cent over the fourth quarter of the previous year, which is higher than the 4.4 per cent growth that the October-December quarter had recorded over the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

India’s Worst Train Accident in 20 Years: Privileging Vanity over Safety

Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connectionor reload the browserDisable in this text fieldRephraseRephrase current sentenceEdit in Ginger×THE three-train accident involving the Shalimar Coromandel Express, Yashwantpur Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train, is India's biggest train accident in the last 20 years. Confirmed deaths – as of June 7, 2023 – are 288 persons.The accident occurred near Balasore – Bahanaga Bazar Station – when the Coromandel Express from Howrah going towards Chennai crashed into a goods train.

Lessons of the Balasore Train Tragedy

THE horrific train crash on June 2 in Balasore district, Odisha has left the country, indeed the world, shocked. 288 persons were killed and over 1100 injured as one speeding train took a wrong line, crashed into a stationary goods train loaded with iron ore and derailed, causing some coaches of a third speeding train also to derail. Both trains were packed, among others, with migrant workers and families mainly travelling between West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.

The War in Ukraine is between NATO and Russia

IN the first half of this year, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has travelled to eleven countries, twice to two of them (France and the United Kingdom). Last year, in 2022, Zelensky only went to three countries (Germany, Poland, and the United States). This year’s trips began with a visit to the United Kingdom, where Zelensky addressed the UK’s parliament and visited Ukrainian troops who are training at Lulworth Camp in Dorset. After that, Zelensky went to several European capitals to seek weapons and political support against Russia.

Increasing Violence on Women in Tripura

THE All India Democratic Women’s Association, in a statement issued on June 5, has strongly condemned increasing instances of rape, gang rape and other kinds of violence on women in the BJP-ruled state of Tripura. It notes with concern that the Tripura state committee of AIDWA has recorded at least 12 instances of such violence in the period between April 15 and June 1, 2023 alone. More than half of the victims in these incidents were minor and young girls, two of them were tribal women and one a disabled woman.

Let Them Eat Fortified Rice...

THE 75th year of independence heard the announcement, from the ramparts of Red Fort, that poor Indian people were to be given rice fortified with iron and vitamins through the public distribution system (PDS), the school midday meals scheme and other government programmes. The ostensible reason for this declaration made in 2021, was the reduction of malnutrition and anaemia in the population out there.

US-China: Jaw-Jaw or Thaw-Thaw?

THE risk of conflict in the Western Pacific is growing as both China and America, along with their allies, raise the military stakes with the goal of outsmarting each other. Both Washington and Beijing are trying hard to keep their nerve while preparing for war. President Xi Jinping warned Chinese national security officials last week that they should prepare for the "worst-case" scenario and "stormy seas.”Last month, a Chinese naval vessel came within 150 yards of a US missile destroyer traversing the Taiwan Strait with a Canadian warship.

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