'The Centre has admitted in parliament that the unemployment rate in rural areas nearly doubled from 2.9% in 2013-14 to 5.3% in 2017-18. In the same period, there was over 50% increase in unemployment in urban areas. The most striking trend has been the rise in unemployment among urban males from 3% to 6.9% during the two year period from 2015-16 to 2017-18...'
'A day after the Rajya Sabha passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019, community representatives held a press conference at the Indian Women’s Press Corps to highlight their issues with the Bill, reiterating that it only serves to push the community further to the margins and reduce trans people to “mere bodies”...'
'Cracking down on serial-offender and terror accused MP Pragya Thakur, who hailed Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a ‘patriot’ in the Lok Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday barred her from attending its parliamentary party meeting in the ongoing session and removed her from the consultative committee on defence. BJP working president J.P. Nadda announced the disciplinary action against her and condemned the controversial Hindutva leader’s remarks in a bid to defuse the political crisis triggered by her remarks in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday...'
'Amitbhai Jerambhai Parmar, a dalit RTI activist and social worker was attacked reportedly by men belonging to upper caste while he was returning to his home at Khopala village in Gadhada taluka, Botad. At around 2.30 pm on November 25, Parmar was attacked by at least three men, who left him grievously injured. Parmar who has undergone surgery on his right hand at Bhavnagar civil hospital is awaiting surgery for his legs—fractured due to the attack. An FIR was filed at the Gadhada police station after Parmar was admitted to the hospital.
'BJP leader Pragya Singh Thakur has once again stirred up a controversy with her remarks on Nathuram Godse in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. She termed Nathuram Godse, the one who killed Mahatma Gandhi, a 'deshbhakth'. Her comment drew crticism from various quarters and the Congress left no stone unturned to take on the BJP. "Repeatedly referring to Nathuram Godse as a "deshbhakt" is a perfect representation of BJP's deplorable hate politics. Will PM Modi condemn Pragya Thakur's remarks or continue to stay silent?" the Congress tweeted...'
'The new version of the Transgender Rights Bill is undeniably an improvement over its predecessors. It has a comparatively expansive definition of the term ‘transgender’, and has done away with problematic provisions requiring a screening process and criminalising begging. Nevertheless, the new Bill leaves much to be desired – it presents a misplaced understanding of ‘gender’ and limited equalising potential. For starters, the Bill takes gender to be concrete and determinable.
Electoral bonds are bearer bonds, introduced as a mechanism for individuals and companies to donate money to political parties in India in 2018 by the BJP government. They were introduced without consultation and ignoring objections of the Election Commission and the RBI. Electoral bonds worth Rs.
'A woman activist, who is part of a team headed for Sabarimala to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa Shrine, was allegedly attacked by a member of a Hindu outfit here on Tuesday. Bindu Ammini, who created history by visiting Sabarimala temple last year following the apex court order, was part of the team led by gender rights activist Trupti Desai. Ammini was attacked by a member of a Hindu outfit using pepper or chilli spray outside the police commissionerate...'
'Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Shiv Sena, skipped a joint sitting of both houses of parliament on Constitution Day on Tuesday to mark their protest against the BJP’s alleged high-handedness in Maharashtra. Upset over political developments in the state, the opposition parties, including the DMK, the SP, NCP and the Left parties, boycotted Constitution Day celebrations in the central hall of parliament and held a joint protest in front of the Ambedkar statue inside parliament complex. In a first, the Shiv Sena supported the Congress in the protest.
'The rampant issue of mob lynchings is absent from electoral campaigns of political parties in poll-bound Jharkhand – a state that has of late become infamous for the violence of rampaging mob. The state has witnessed 22 such killings between March 18, 2016 and September 22, 2019, for alleged smuggling or slaughtering of cows and over child-lifting rumours. It is also of concern that barring a few incidents of mob lynching, most incidents have occurred in remote rural or small town areas.
