-The Hindu The lockdown period saw the state abdicating its responsibilities towards the welfare of pregnant women In a shocking incident earlier this month, a pregnant woman died in an ambulance in Noida after being turned away from a number of private and government hospitals. This raises a chilling question for all of us: if this can happen somewhere so close to the nation’s capital, what is happening in the corners of...

-The Hindu Instead of embracing the welfare state path, the BJP government is encouraging greater privatisation The novel coronavirus is a global threat, but the pandemic has had an uneven impact across countries and within countries. Historically, social inequality has always been extreme in India. However, the lockdown has sharpened the edges of inequality even further, especially because of the way it has been implemented. Many countries have imposed lockdowns but not...

-Press release by Stranded Workers Action Network, dated 20th May 2020   We, the undersigned organizations call upon the State governments concerned to bring out all idle transport vehicles out from garages to the State and National highways to carry the workers to their home. We also request that more interstate trains be run, and in a coordinated fashion, to ensure that workers do not remain struck in overcrowded dormitories and camps....

-The Hindu For employers, availability of skilled workforce and worker-management ties are more vital Some State governments including Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) and Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) have proposed ordinances to exempt manufacturing establishments from the purview of most labour laws. In a discussion moderated by Suresh Seshadri, Amit Basole (Associate Professor of Economics, Azim Premji Unversity, Bengaluru) and K.R. Shyam Sundar (Professor of Human Resource Management, XLRI, Jamshedpur) look at the backdrop for...

-TheWire.in While most of the laws may not be strictly enforced, does that justify doing away with them completely? In the last week, several important labour laws, meant to safeguard the welfare of the workers and ensure industrial safety, have been “suspended” for a few years in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Although the orders put out by each state government have their own tweaks and variations, these decisions collectively come with...