'Around 5,000 migrant workers from Assam and other parts of the country were rounded up in a supposed 'document-verification drive', after a pro-Hindutva organisation alleged that they were illegal immigrants. On Wednesday evening, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Kodagu, Suman D Pennekar issued an order to all police stations in Kodagu to conduct a document-verification drive.
'Kailash Vijayvargiya, the national general secretary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, on Thursday said that the construction workers at his house had “strange eating habits” that aroused suspicions about their nationality, PTI reported. The labourers were only consuming poha, a popular dish made from flattened rice, Vijayvargiya said at a seminar on the Citizenship Amendment Act in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. “I suspected these workers were residents of Bangladesh,” he said. “Two days after I became suspicious, they stopped working at my house.”...'
'Days after BJP MLA Arvind Limbavalli tweeted a video of shantytowns in North Bengaluru’s Kariyammana Agrahara area, claiming that the settlements belong to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, the houses were razed to the ground on Sunday and rendered thousands homeless. The electricity and water supply to the location was cut off three days ago. After the demolition of the shanties, the residents, mostly migrants from Assam, Tripura, some even from North Karnataka, were allegedly asked to vacate the land... All the residents have valid identity cards, including Aadhaar, pan and voter ID.
'At least two in every five young Indians are not part of the workforce or have no link with education or any form of training, a UN report has said, putting the country behind Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka on these parameters. The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020 report, released here on Friday, said over 40 per cent of Indians aged between 20 and 34 were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) for the period between 2010 and 2018...'
'Poverty and lack of opportunity in their hometowns drove 93 million Indians from disadvantaged castes and tribes in 2011 to migrate to other areas within their states in the hope of securing education or employment. However. they continue to face social segregation, labour market discrimination and barriers to accessing the most basic services, finds an analysis of Census data and research studies by India Migration Now, a Mumbai-based non-profit.
'For the past five months, Trupti Kamle has been torn between two difficult choices: either saving money for her son’s education or ensuring that he is fed well. The reason for her dilemma is something that has been plaguing households across India in recent months – unprecedented food inflation. A domestic worker from suburban Mumbai, Kamle has always kept aside half of her income – currently Rs 12,000 a month – as savings for her six-year-old son.
'A Jammu and Kashmir police officer decorated with the President's medal for bravery was caught on Saturday with two terrorists, travelling in a vehicle on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway. The terrorists were on their way to Delhi, police sources said. Davinder Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police posted at the sensitive Srinagar International airport was caught at Wanpoh in the Kulgam district with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Naveed Babu.
'Forget GDP growth rate for the moment. Niti Aayog's SDG Index 2019, released on December 27, 2019, says that more Indians have fallen into poverty, hunger and income inequality in the past two years. This is after a remarkable reduction in poverty between 2005-06 and 2015-16...'
'India woke up on January 8, to witness the largest ever strike with an estimated 25 crore (250 million) workers, employees, farmers and rural labourers stopping work and hitting the streets to protest against the Modi government’s economic policies and divisive politics. Reports coming in from various states indicate that the strike was complete in the country’s massive public sector across sectors, such as steel, coal, other mining, defence production, port & dock, oil & natural gas, telecom, power generation, etc. Ancillary industries also were mostly shut...
'The huge fire that engulfed a residential-cum-production unit in a congested part of Delhi in the early hours of December 8, killing over 40 people, has exposed the precarity of the every-day life of workers in this country. Their unfortunate deaths have merely caused the authorities responsible to indulge in a blame game, without shame, while conveniently sidestepping the larger question of systemic labour rights violation.
