JAMMU and Kashmir was the first state in the country to introduce land reforms. There were two components of J&K’s land reforms. First, the system of absentee landlordism that had prevailed during the Maharaja’s time was completely done away with. The land of the absentee landlords was taken over without any compensation and simply distributed among the tenants; whoever was cultivating whatever amount of land on the absentee landlord’s estate as tenant was simply given ownership of that much of land without having to pay any amount of money for obtaining ownership.

CONSIDER the severe all round attacks on women’s rights in the last two and a half months of which are recounted here: the gruesome rape and attack on a 17 year old girl in Unnao and the BJP government’s negligence and political defence of the accused bylawmakers of the ruling party; the passing of the Triple Talaq Bill which will render many Muslim women destitute; the passing of the Wage Code Bill in Parliament which dilutes the Equal Remuneration Act; the passing of the bill, which provides for death penalty under the POCSO Act; the reduction in the budget for women’s security, the histo

AS the Narendra Modi government scrapped the constitutional provisions that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir and divided the state into two union territories over the past week, BJP leaders and right-wingers started issuing obnoxious threats – both online and offline.

THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on August 11, notes with concern the utter irresponsible and insensitive approach of the BJP led central government to the unprecedented floods, loss of lives and property in different parts of the country. In the last few months, large parts of India have been reeling under severe floods that have led to loss of hundreds of lives. Initially in July 2019, heavy rains and floods affected Assam, Bihar and nearby states in which there has been loss of lives and livestock as well as wild animals in the Kaziranga National Park.

Below we publish the statement issued by the BSNL Employees Union, on August 8THE Department of Telecommunications is moving a cabinet note for the revival of BSNL. One of the components envisaged in the revival package is to make BSNL a debt-free company, through transfer of BSNL’s bank loans to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). Identified land parcels of BSNL will also be transferred to the SPV, to be sold by the latter, for the repayment of the loans. BSNL management has already finalised a list of 63 land parcels, located in major cities and towns, to be transferred to the SPV.