'From Aadhaar details to get on Shramik trains, to filthy quarantine centres and police beatings; the journey home is stripping workers of rights and dignity... After being stranded since March—walking back home on foot, peddling their bicycles, hiding in trucks—migrant workers have finally been given a dignified option to travel back home. On 1 May, International Labour Day, the Indian Railways started running “Shramik Special” trains to move them to their home states.
'One night in lockdown this April, George Kuruvilla was having dinner and watching the news when he fielded a phone call from a prospective supplier who talked up a tracking-wristband and accompanying software to ensure possible COVID-19 patients don’t violate their quarantine. What followed offers an illuminating insight into how India’s tech companies are turning India into a surveillance state one sales pitch at a time.
'Family members of arrested Jamia Millia Islamia student Safoora Zargar say they are “appalled and upset” by the attempts made to slander her on social media, but her husband says he is keeping faith in the country’s judicial system. Zargar, a 27-year-old M.Phil. student from Jamia, is over three months pregnant, and was arrested by the Delhi Police’s special cell on 10 April. She was later denied bail and, on 21 April, charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
'“For the past two months, we have not received our salary. We have not been provided with proper food or ration. We were left to starve and now, they are asking us to resume work,” says a labourer from Jharkhand, who has been working at a site in Ambattur, Chennai. He continues, “They say they are ready to pay us now, but we are not ready to trust them. We have our children and parents to take care of.
'The Delhi Police’s special cell on Thursday booked Delhi Minorities Commission chairman Zafarul Islam Khan under sedition charges, two days after he allegedly made “provocative” remarks in his social media posts. Joint commissioner of police (special cell) Neeraj Thakur said that a first information report (FIR) has been registered against Khan under Indian Penal Code sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony)...'
'Amidst the nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19, Kashmiris stranded in Jaipur, Rajasthan, were allegedly beaten up and harassed by the police when they were out “to buy basic essentials”. Speaking to The Kashmir Walla, Altaf Dar, a resident of Bandipora, north Kashmir, who has been working as a caterer in Hassanpora, Jaipur, claims that he was beaten up by the police when he had gone out in search of ration in the evening of 29 April. Dar, 23, added that his group of twenty-five people was short of money and had run out of essentials.
'In the late evening on 21st April 2020, Arnab Goswami, the Editor-in-chief of Republic TV, in purported exercise of his right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, made certain comments against former Congress President, Sonia Gandhi. He stated that Mrs. Gandhi is "happy" and will be sending a "report to Italy" in order to gain "praises" as she has gotten "saints" killed in a State which is governed partly by the political party she belongs to.
'The Delhi Police Wednesday invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Jawaharlal Nehru University PhD scholar Sharjeel Imam, months after arresting him in connection with the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019. The development comes two weeks after the police accused Imam, 31, of allegedly instigating riots at the university on December 13 and 15 through “seditious” speeches outside campus, during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) last year...'
'Zubair Ahmed, a journalist working in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has been arrested allegedly for a tweet asking why a family was put under quarantine for speaking over phone to a COVID-19 patient.
'When the Indian Council of Medical Research invited bids for the supply of rapid antibody test kits on March 25, it made an elementary mistake: it did not ask the bidding companies to produce an import licence. As a result, companies without a licence to import the kits submitted bids – and won. These distributing companies in turn subcontracted the order to an importer. This had a cascading effect on the price of the kits, with both the importer and the distributors factoring in a profit margin.
